
Class _LlAm=^- 
Book >Sf.^6 a * 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
BUREAU OF EDUCATION 




BULLETIN, 1917, No. 46 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 



OF 



SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 



A REPORT TO THE SAN FRANCISCO BOARD 

OF EDUCATION OF A SURVEY MADE UNDER 

THE DIRECTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

COMMISSIONER 6F EDUCATION 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1917 



BULLETIN OF THE BTJEEAXJ OF £BttCAf 10$ $0% 1917. 

Notjj.-— With the exceptions indicated, the documents named below will be sent free of charge upon 
application to the Commissioner oi Education, Washington, D. C. Those marked with an asterisk (*) 
are no longer available lor free distribution, but may be had of the S uperintendent of Documents, G overn- 
ment Printing Office^ Washington, D.C., upon payment of the price stated. Remittances should be made 
in eoin, currency, or money order. Stamps are nof accepted. 

A complete list of available publications will be sent upon application. 

*No. 1. Monthly record of current educational publications, January, 1917. 5 cents. 

No. 2. Reorganization of English in secondary schools. J. F. Hosic. 

*No 3. Pine needle basketry in schools, W. C. A. Hamniel. 5 cents. 

No. 4. Secondary agricultural schools in Russia. W. S. Jesien. 

No. 5. Report of an inquiry into the administration and support of the Colorado 

school system. Katherine M. Cook and A. C. Monahan. 
No. 6. Educative and economic possibilities of school-directed home gardening in 

Richmond, Ind. J. L. Randall. 
No. 7. Monthly record of current educational publications, February, 1917. 
No. 8. Current practice in city school administration. W, S. Deffenbaugh. 
No. 9. Department-store education. Helen R. Norton. 
No. 10. Development of arithmetic as a school subject. W. S. Monroe. 
*No, 11. Higher technical education in foreign countries. A. T. Smith and W. S. 

Jesien. 20 cents. 
No. 12. Monthly record of current educational publications, March, 1917. 
No. 13. Monthly record of current educational publications, April, 1917. 
No. 14. A graphic survey of book publications, 1890-1916. F. E. Woodward. 
No. 15. Studies in higher education in Ireland and Wales. George E. MacLean. 
No. 18. Studies in higher education in England and Scotland. George E. MacLean. 
No. 17. Accredited higher institutions. S. P. Capen. 

*No. 18. History of public-school education in Delaware. Stephen B. Weeks. 20 cents. 
No. 19. Report of a survey of the University of Nevada. 
No. 20. Work of school children during out-of -school hours. C. D. Jarvis. 
No. 21. Monthly record of current educational publications, May, 1917. 
No. 22, Money value of education. A. Caswell Ellis. 
No. 23. Three short courses in home making. Carrie A. Lyford. 
No. 24, Monthly record of current educational publications— Index, February, 1916, 

to January, 1917. 
No. 25. Military training of youths of school age in foreign countries. W. S. Jesien. 
No. 26. Garden clubs in the schools of Englewood, N. J. Charles Q. Smith. 
No. 27. Training of teachers of mathematics in secondary schools. R. C.Archibald. 
No. 28. Monthly record of current educational publications, June, 1917. 
No. 29. Practice teaching for teachers in secondary schools. 
No. 30. Scnool extension statistics. Clarence A. Perry. 
No. 31. Rural- teacher preparation in county training schools and high schools. 

H. W.Foght. 
No. 32. Work of the Bureau of Education for the natives of Alaska, 1915-16. 
No. 33. A comparison of the salaries of rural and of urban superintendents of schools. 

A. C. Monahan and C. H. Dye. 
No. 34. Institutions in the United States giving instruction in agriculture. A. C. 

Monahan and C. H. Dye. 
No. BSiJthe township and community high-school movement in Illinois. H. A. 

Hollister. 
No. 36. Demand for vocational education in the foreign countries at war. Anna T. 

Smith. 
No. 37. The conference on training for foreign service. Glen L. Swiggett. 

[Continued ofc page 3 of cover. ] 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

U.S. BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1917, No. 46 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 



OF 



SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 



A REPORT TO THE SAN FRANCISCO BOARD 

OF EDUCATION OF A SURVEY MADE UNDER 

THE DIRECTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1917 



LA 2, + 5- 

■ ^>4-Asr 



ADDITIONAL COPIES 

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY RE PROCURED FROM 

TEE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

AT 

60 CENTS PER COPY 



d. of d; 

JAN 25 1918 



4^ 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Pag<r. 

Note 4 

Introduction 5 

Chapter I. The City of San Francisco 9 

IT. A statistical study of the school system 22 

III. Organization and administration 76 

IV. The finances of the schools 129 

V. School buildings and grounds 163 

VI. The elementary schools 198 

VII. Tests of the achievements of pupils 234 

VIII. The high schools 272 

IX. Civic education 299 

X. Music in the public schools 371 

XI. Instruction in art 426 

XII. Home economics education 442 

XIII. Manual training .' 479 

XIV. Vocational education 493 

XV. Education of the immigrant 531 

XVI. Educational and economic value of school-directed gardening 570 

XVII. Digest of summaries of recommendations and conclusions 621 

Index 645 

3 



NOTE. 



It has not been possible personally to verify absolutely all state- 
ments of fact in this report. Copies of the report, however, were 
submitted to the following-named persons with the request that all 
such errors be pointed out in order that they might be corrected 
before the report went to press. 

Mr. George W. Gallagher, president San Francisco Board of 
Education. 

Mr. Alfred Roncovieri, superintendent of public schools. 

Mrs. Jesse W. Steinhart, chairman San Francisco school survey 
committee. 

Mr. Robert Newton Lynch, vice president and manager San 
Francisco Chamber of Commerce. 

The suggestions resulting from this request have all been given 
careful consideration. 

P. P. Claxton, 

Commissioner. 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO, 

CALIFORNIA. 



INTRODUCTION. 



During the month of December, 1914, representatives of the San 
Francisco Chamber of Commerce conferred with the Commissioner of 
Education in Washington concerning the possibility of a survey of 
the San Francisco public school system under the direction of the 
Bureau of Education. At that time the Commissioner of Education 
drafted a statement of the conditions under which the Bureau of 
Education would undertake a survey. 

On April 5, 1915, a representative of the commissioner met with 
the board of education in San Francisco and presented a copy of this 
statement of conditions, and discussed the subject of the survey 
informally with the board. The conditions stated were as follows: 

1. An official invitation received by the Bureau of Education from 
the San Francisco Board of Education. 

2. Assurance of cooperation of the California State Department of 
Public Instruction. 

3. The survey to be under the direction of the Bureau of Education. 

4. The survey to consist of a sympathetic inquiry in to. conditions 
as they are, with commendation of what is good, and suggestions for 
improvement and further development. 

5. Report of the survey to be submitted to the San Francisco 
Board of Education, and published (as submitted) by the Bureau of 
Education. 

6. The Bureau of Education to furnish the services of three special- 
ists (later increased to five) and to publish the final report. 

7. The San Francisco Board of Education to furnish — 

(a) Traveling and subsistence expenses of three specialists (later 
increased to five) representing the Bureau of Education. 

(b) Traveling and subsistence expenses, and compensation, of four 
members (later increased to seven by mutual agreement) of the 
survey commission, to be nominated by the Bureau of Education 
from a list to be approved by the San Francisco Board of Education. 

(c) Necessary stenographic and clerical assistance. 

(d) Necessary office supplies and materials. 

The necessary expense of the survey was estimated by the com- 
missioner at $8,500. 

5 



b THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Under date of July 14, 1915, the secretary of the San Francisco 
Board of Education notified the commissioner that at a meeting of 
the board on July 13 the following resolution was adopted: 

Whereas the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce has expressed a wish to make 
a survey of the school system of San Francisco as a part of its plan to o' tain accurate 
data upon all questions affecting the commercial life of San Francisco; and has asked 
that access to the departments under the charge of this 1 oard be granted; and has 
stated that the purpose of the chamber of commerce is to secure outside, impartial 
experts for this work, for whose character and ability said chamber of commerce 
undertakes to vouch: Therefore be it 

Resolved, That the Board of Education hereby express its willingness that a survey 
of the school department be made by the United States Bureau of Education, pro- 
vided that no person be appointed to conduct any part of the survey or make any 
investigation of the department until approved by the Board of Education, and pro- 
vided, further, that this involve no expense to the Board of Education. 

Under date of October 8 the secretary of the board of education 
notified the Commissioner of Education that at a meeting of tho 
board held October 5 it was resolved that the Commissioner of Edu- 
cation be invited to conduct a survey of the school department of 
San Francisco. 

On November 20 Mr. Lynch wired the commissioner that $6,000 
of the needed $8,500 had been raised and that he considered tho 
remainder of the amount assured. On December 28 Mr. Lynch 
reported that the committee had raised within $600 or $700 of the 
entire amount and that the committee would be responsible for the 
remainder. 

On January 3, 1916, the commissioner wired acceptance of the 
financial arrangement and advised that the survey work would begin 
early in February. 

THE SURVEY COMMISSION. 

On January 13 the list of names of the persons proposed for the 
survey commission was sent to the San Francisco Board of Educa- 
tion and to the chamber of commerce. One or two changes were 
made necessary later, and as finally made up the commission included 
the following members: 
From the Bureau of Education: 

Mrs. Henrietta W. Calvin — home economics. 

Fletcher B. Dresslar — school architecture, sanitation, buildings and equip- 
ment. 1 

Arthur W. Dunn — civic education. 

John L. Randall — school and home gardening. 

Frederick E. Farrinoton — education for immigrants. 

William T. Bawd en — manual training, vocational education, director of field 
work for the survey commission, 

i Spocial agent of the Bureau of Education, not on regular salary; hence received compensation for serv- 
ices on survey. 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

From outside the Bureau of Education: 

William M. Davidson — organization, administration, financial and fiscal prob- 
lems—superintendent of public schools, Pittsburgh, Pa. 1 

Charles A. McMurry— elementary schools, courses of study, methods of teach- 
ing — professor of elementary education, Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, 
Tenn. 

John W. Withers — elementary schools, courses of study, methods of teaching — 
president of Harris Teachers College, St. Louis, later elected superintendent of public 
schools, St. Louis, Mo. 

J. Stanley Brown — secondary education — superintendent Joliet Township High 
School, Joliet, 111. 

Henry Turner Bailey — fine arts — editor of School Arts Magazine, Boston, Mass., 
later appointed dean of the Cleveland School of Art, Cleveland, Ohio. 

Will Earhart — music — director of music, public schools, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

On January 18 President George E. Gallagher wired the commis- 
sioner that the names submitted were approved by the board of 
education. 

Eight members of the commission spent practically the entire 
month of February in San Francisco, while the remaining members 
visited the schools in August after the opening of the new school 
year. Twelve members of the commission spent a total of 347 days 
in San Francisco, an average of approximately 25 to 30 days each. 

Every elementary school, every high school, and 16 evening schools 
were visited by one or more members of the commission. The num- 
ber of visits to schools aggregated 443; visits to classrooms, 1,818; 
conferences with groups of teachers and principals, 139. The details 
of visits arc set forth in the following table: 

Report of visits made to schools by 12 members of the San Francisco survey commission. 





Number of schools visited. 




Elemen- 
tary. 


High. 


Evening. 


Total. 


By 1 member 


' 16 
19 
15 

10 
10 

7 
5 

1 
1 




G 
6 
2 


22 


By 2 mem bers 


25 


B v 3 mem bers 


17 


By 4 mem bers 


10 


By 5 mem bers 


i" 

1 
2 
1 


2 


12 


By G mem bers 


8 


By 7 members 




6 


B3' 8 members 




3 


By 9 members 




2 


By 10 mem tiers 






By 11 members 


1 






1 










Total 


85 


5 


10 


106 







Number of members of commission reporting 12 

Number of schools visited 106 

N umber of visits to schools 443 

N umber of v isi ts to classes 1, 818 

N umber of confereni cs held with groups of toaehcrs and principals 139 

Assisted by August Hillor— finance — chief accountant and statistician, public schools, Pittsburgh, Pa. 



8 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

The commission wishes to acknowledge its obligation to school 
officers, teachers, various civic organizations, and individual citizens 
of San Francisco for their courtesy, kindly consideration, and hearty 
cooperation. The work of the commission was facilitated in every 
possible way by the members of the board of education, by the super- 
intendent of schools and his deputies, by supervisors, principals, 
teachers, and other school employees, by the mayor and other city 
officials, and by many private citizens whose deep interest in the 
improvement of the public schools was noted on every hand. 

The local school survey committee, under whose auspices the 
survey was conducted, and its individual members rendered much 
valuable assistance. 



Chapter I. 
THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



As the largest city of the region west of the Missouri River, and the 
principal seaport on the west coast of North America, San Francisco 
has the distinction of being the metropolis of the Pacific Coast of the 
United States. Situated near the center of the coast of California, 
San Francisco occupies the northern end of a peninsula which is ap- 
proximately 30 miles long, surrounded on the west by the Pacific 
Ocean, on the east by the Bay of San Francisco, and on the north 
by the Golden Gate. 

The first settlement in this locality dates from October 9, 1776, 
when two Franciscan monks, Palou and Cambon, founded an Indian 
mission, which they called San Francisco do Asisi. After the Mexi- 
cans secured control of California, 1822, a small village called Dolores 
grew up about the mission. In 1836 the village of Ycrba Buona was 
founded on the water front near by, and from this the modern city 
developed. 

In 1846 California came into the possession of the United States, 
and in the following year the village of Yerba Buena changed its 
name to San Francisco. At that time its population was about 450. 
The discovery of gold in 1848 brought a large influx of population 
into California, and by September, 1849, San Francisco is said to 
have had a population of 10,000. 

The city has been visited by a number of disastrous conflagrations, 
^vg of which during the years 1849-1851 destroyed property the 
value of which is estimated at $16,000,000*. An earthquake did 
some damage in October, 1868. In April, 1906, an earthquake 
shock wrecked a number of buildings, and by rupturing gas and 
water mains prevented effective measures for dealing with the fire 
which ensued. When the fire was finally subdued, it was found that 
about a third of the city, including most of the business section, was 
in ruins, with a loss of life reported at 452 and a property loss of 
more than $200,000,000. It is estimated that over 250,000 people 
were loft homeless, and most of these were wholly ruined financially. 

Notwithstanding these reverses, San Francisco, with splendid 
spirit and recuperative power, has each time set resolutely about 
the task of rebuilding. The area burned over in 1906 has been 
almost entirely rebuilt with substantial modern buildings. 

9 



10 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



The land area of San Francisco is 43 square miles, the territory of 
the city and county being coextensive. In laying out the streets no 
attempt appears to have been made to plan easy grades, and as a 
consequence some of the streets, straight up the sides of steep hills, 
are practically impassable for all kinds of traffic. Tho hills riso 
abruptly from sea level to several hundred feet in height. South- 
west of the main portion of the city, Twin Peaks rise to over 900 
feet above sea level. 

Several important portions of the site of San Francisco, including 
tho portion whore tho Ferry Building now stands and part of tho 
Panama-Pacific Exposition grounds, have been reclaimed from 
the bay. 

POPULATION. 

From a population of 10,000 in 1849, San Francisco grow to 416,912 
in 1910, a period of 61 years. The successive additions and per 
cent increases are shown in Table 1. 

Table 1. — Population of San Francisco, 1S49-1915. 



Census year. 


Popula- 
tion. 


Increase over pre- 
ceding census. 




Number. 


Per cent. 


18491 


10, 000 
34,770 
50,802 
149,473 
233,959 
298,997 
342, 7S2 
41(1,912 
452,255 






1S52 2 


24,770 
22, 02(i 
92,071 
84,48(1 
05,038 
43,7X5 
74,130 
35,343 


247. 7 


18 i<) 


03. 3 


1870 


103. 1 


1SS0 


5C». 5 


18.10 


27.8 


1900 


14.0 


1910 


21.6 


1U15 1 


8.4 







1 Estimated. 2 State census; the returns for the Federal census of 1850 were destroyed by Are. 

The population in 1910, by assembly districts, is shown in Table 
2. See also map, figure 16, page 30. 

Table 2. — Population of San Francisco, by assembly districts, 1010. x 



District number. 

28 

29 

30 

31 



Population. 

11,373 

5,537 

7,558 

18,787 

32 31,879 

33 44,688 

34 36,970 

35 22,388 

36 12,844 

37 35,250 



District number. Population. 

38 27,925 

39 51,564 

40 23,075 

41 25,372 

42 8,810 

43.. 9,379 

44. 21,307 

45 22,206 



Total 416,912 



1 See map, p. 



THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



11 



Of eight cities in California having in 1910 a population of 25,000 
or over, San Francisco shows the lowest rate of increase for the Last 
census period, 1900-1910. The city's x most rapid growth was made 
during the decades from 1S60 to 1880, its population increasing more 
than fourfold during that period, while during the 30 years from 1880 
to 1910 its population increased only 78.1 per cent. The lowest rate 
of decennial increase was 14.6 per cent, for the decade 1890-1900. 
The next lowest rate, 21.6 per cent, was for the last decade reported, 
1900-1910. The disaster which befell the city in 1906 undoubtedly 
retarded its development to an extent from which it has hardly yet 
fully recovered. 

With a land area of 26,632 acres, the population per acre in 1915 
was estimated at 17. The basis for comparing San Francisco with 
the other cities in the same population class is presented in Table 3, 
from which it appears that it is fourth in the list of these cities in 
density of population. San Francisco has about two-thirds as many 
inhabitants per acre as Newark and Milwaukee, but nearly six times 
as many as New Orleans, and nearly seven times as many as Los 
Angeles. Differences in average density in these cities is due largely 
to the proportion of undeveloped territory within their corporate 
limits, which is comparatively large in San Francisco. 

Table 3. — Density of population, 9 cities having a population of 300,000 to 500,000 , 

1915} 



City. 


Rank in 
density of 
population. 


Number of 

inhabitants 

per acre. 


Area of 

city proper 

in acres. 


Estimated 

population 

1915. 


Newark, N. J 


1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 


26.2 
25.8 
18.3 
17 

10.7 
9.3 
8.9 
8.4 
2.9 
2.5 


14,858.0 
16,215.8 
24,894 
20. 632 
32,069 
38,408.4 
45,358.9 
37,481 
125, 4 W 
183,464 


389, 108 


Mi hvau kee , Wis 


419,589 


Buffalo, N. Y 


457,723 
452, 255 


SAN FRANCISCO 


Minneapolis, Minn 


343,466 


Washington, D C 


356, 028 


Cinci n nnti , Ohio 


402, 175 


Seattle, Wash 


313.029 


New Orleans, La 

Los Angeles, Cal 


361,221 
452, 140 





1 Financial statistics of cities having a population of over 30,000 in 1915; Bureau of the Census. 

The total number of dwellings in San Francisco in 1910 was 65,025, 
and the total number of families 86,414, there being 132.9 families to 
each 100 dwellings. The corresponding figure for the State was 109.8 
families to each 100 dwellings. The average number of persons per 
dwelling was — San Francisco, 6.4; California, 4.6. The average num- 
ber of persons per family was — San Francisco, 4.8; California, 4.2. The 
facts concerning housing are still further analyzed in Chapter XVI. 

For a discussion of the distribution of the population according to 
occupations, see Chapter XIV. 



12 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

RACIAL COMPOSITION OP POPULATION. 

In 1910 nearly 72 per cent of the population of San Francisco were 
foreign-born or of immediate foreign descent, as may be noted in 
Table 4 and Figure 1. The largest elements among the foreign-born 
population are the Germans, Irish, Italians, Scandinavians, and the 
English-Scotch- Welsh group. The Chinese numbered 10,582 and 



Racial Composition of Population 
San Francisco -.1910 




Figure l. — San Francisco is a cosmopolitan city. Eleven different racial groups of foreigners are 
represented by numbers sufficient to constitute from 1.1 to 5.8 per cent of the total population. Only 
about one-fourth of the population is native-born of native white parents. 

the Japanese 4,674, though, as noted in Chapter XV of this report, 
since 1910 the Chinese have decreased in numbers and the Japanese 
have materially increased. 

San Francisco is, therefore, distinctively a cosmopolitan city. 
Eleven different racial groups of foreign-born are represented by 
numbers sufficient to constitute from 1.1 to 5.8 per cent of the total 



THE CITY OF SAN FKANCISCO. 



13 



population. Only about one-fourth of the population is native-born 
of native white parents. 

The presence within the city of considerable numbers of persons of 
foreign descent, grouped for the most part in settlements more or less 
clearly differentiated by language or racial characteristics, inevitably 
creates special difficulties for the schools. These problems are fully 
discussed elsewhere. 

Table 4. — Distribution of population of San Francisco by country of birth, 1910. 



Country of birth. 


Number. 


Per cent. 




115,359 
15 5,781 
150,874 


27.7 




36.9 






31.4 










24. 1X7 

2 5,151 
16,91$ 
13,884 

13.856 
6, 486 
6.241 
6.16J 
5, SS8 

14,149 


5.8 


Ireland „ 


5.6 


Italv 


4.0 




Wales 


3.3 






3.3 


Russia (Finland) 


1.6 


France 


1.5 




1.5 




l.*4 


Other 


3.4 








Australia 


1,347 
2,274 

500 
1,763 

570 
1,170 
2,587 
3,938 




reece 




Holland 




Mexico 
















Other 










Ncsro 


1.642 

10,582 

4,674 


.4 


China 


2.4 


Japan and other 


1.1 








Total 


416,912 


100 







Table 5. — Distribution of population by age-periods — San Francisco compared with 
the nine other cities having a population of 300,000 to 500,000 in 1910. 



Age-period. 



Under 5 years 

5 to 14 years 

35 to 19 years 

20 to 24 years 

25 to 44 years 

45 to 64 years 

65 years and over 
and age unknown 

Total popula- 
tion 

Total 5 to 19 
years 

Total 20 to 64 
years 



Population at each age-period. 



Buf- 
falo. 



42.257 

77,449 
42.049 
45,057 
136,731 
65,476 

14,696 



423,715 
119,498 
247,264 



Cin- 
cin- 
nati. 



29,172 
55,825 
35,2<v 
3S,96S 
124,568 
63,103 

16,670 



363,591 
91,110 
226,639 



De- 
troit. 



48,715 
77,658 

43,392 
55,839 
158,858 
65,156 

16,138 



465,766 
121,0.50 
279,863 



Los 
An- 
geles. 



22,817 
41,517 
25.6% 
32,015 
12! 



Mil- 
wau- 
kee. 



59,639 
15,829 



37,834 
69,041 
38. .520 
42,551 
775118.S33 
53, 718 



319,198 

67,123 

213,429 



13,380 



373,857 
107,561 
215.0S2 



Minne- 
apolis. 



25, 797 
44.561 
28,312 
39,073 
106.635 
45,059 

11,971 



301,408 

72,873 

190,767 



New 
Or- 
leans. 



New- 
ark. 



32.04 
64,076 
33,843 
35, 560 
110.408 
48,291 

14,850 



339,075 
97,919 
194,259 



38.421 
64,397 
32.809 
35. 8X9 
114,736 
49,339 

11,878 



347,469 
97,206 
199,964 



Wash-I T otal 
ing- fur 9 
ton. cities. 



26,669 305,729 
♦9,961 544.485 
28, J 12 307,928 
34,424! 359.356 
119,3761, 111, 92f) 



San 
Fran- 
cisco. 



29.178 
49,730 
32, 465 
46. 489 
1 70, 442 



54,275| 501.066 68,642 
18,252 133,664 19,966 



331,069 3,265,148 
78,073 852,413 



416,912 
82,195 



208,0751,975,342 285,573 



14 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 6. — Per cent distribution of population by age periods — San Francisco compared 1 
with the United States as a whole, and with cities having a population of 300,000 to* 
500,000 in 1910. (See Figures 2 and 3.) 





Per cent of total population at each age period. 


Age periods. 


Buf- 
falo. 


Cin- 
cin- 
nati. 


De- 
troit. 


Los- 
An- 
geles. 


Mil- 
wau- 
kee. 


Minne- 
apolis. 


New 
Or- 
leans. 


New- 
ark. 


Wash- 
ing- 
ton. 


Total 
for 9 
cities. 


United 
States. 


San 
Fran- 
cisco. 


Under 5 years of age 

5 to 14 years 

1") to 19 vears 


10 
18.3 
9.9 
10.6 
32.2 
15.5 

3.5 


8 
15.3 

9.7 
10.7 
34.3 
17.4 

4.6 


10.4 
16.7 
9.3 
12 

34.1 
14 

3.5 


7.2 
13 

8 

10.1 
38.2 
18.7 

4.9 


10.1 
18.5 
10.3 
11.4 
31.8 
14.4 

3.5 


8.5 
14.8 

9.4 
13 

35.4 
14.9 

4 


9.4 
18.9 
10 

10.5 
32. 6 
14.2 

4.4 


11.1 
18.5 
9.4 
10.3 
33 
14.2 

3.5 


8 
15.1 

8.5 
10.4 
36.1 
16.1 

5.5 


9.3 
16.7 

9.4 
11 
34 
15.5 

4.1 


11.6 
^0.5 
9.9 
9.8 
29.1 
14.6 

4.5 


7 
11.9 

7.8- 


20 to 24 years 


11.2 


25 to 44 years 

45 to 64 years 

65 years and over, and 
age unknown 


41 
16.4 

4.7 


Total 


100 


100 
25 
62.4 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 






Total 5 to 19 vears. 

Total 20 to 64 

years 


28.2 
58.3 


26 
60.1 


21 
66.9 


28.8 
57.6 


24.2 
63.3 


28.9 
57.3 


27.9 
57.5 


23.6 
62.9 


26.1 
60.5 


30.4 
53.5 


19.7 
68. & 



AGE DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION. 

According to the consus figures for 1910, Tables 5 and 6, and 
Figure 2, the ago distribution of the population of San Francisco 
shows marked peculiarities when compared with that of the United 
States as a whole. San Francisco has very much less than her share 
of children under 20 years of age, only a little more than half the 
average proportion of children 5 to 14 years of age, and much more 
than her share of adults of the productive ages of 25 to 44 years 
(41 per cent, as against 29.1). 

Comparing San Francisco in this respect with the nine other cities 
of the same population class, Tablo 6, and Figure 3, similar dis- 
crepancies of distribution appear, though they are slightly less pro- 
nounced. 

As shown in Table 6, in the nine cities the population from 5 to 
19 years of age equals 43.1 per cent of the population from 20 to G4 
years; in San Francisco, 28.7 per cent. In the nine cities, therefore, 
the ratio of population of school age to population of 20 to 64 years 
of age is 50.1 per cent greater than in San Francisco. 

The importance of these facts for public education is manifest. 
With a much smaller proportion of children of school age than the 
average city and with a much larger proportion of productive adult 
population, the financial burden of supporting a public-school system 
rests much more lightly upon the people of San Francisco than 
elsewhere. 



THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



15 




16 



TIIE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 




W7\ 



i 



i 



u 



M 


<* 


* 

^ 


P 


P 


o 


O 


Oil 


? 




&©£ 



THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



17 



ILLITERACY. 

Table 7 shows the figures for the per cent of illiterates in the pop- 
ulation 10 years of age and over, comparing San Francisco in this 
respect with the United States as a whole and with the nine other 
cities in the same population class in 1910. 

Table 7. — Per cent of illiterates in the population 10 years of age and over; 10 citiei 
having a population of 300,000 to 500,000 in 1910. 





Per cent of illiterates. 


Cities. 


Foreign- 
born 
wliite. 


Native white. 




Nativo 
parentage. 


Foreign 
and mixed 
parentage 


1. SAN FRANCISCO 


4.7 
0.8 
7 

8.2 
9.5 
9.0 
10.3 
11.7 
12.9 
14.2 


0.2 
.1 
.2 
.6 
.1 

1 

.2 
.2 

1 
.3 


0.2 




.2 




.4 


4. Washington 


.4 




.3 




.5 


7. Buffalo 


.5 


8. Detroit 


.5 




1.2 


10. Newark, N. J 


.6 


United States 


12.7 


3.7 


1.1 







In respect to illiterates in the foreign -horn white population, San 
Francisco had a smaller proportion than any other city in the list, 
4.7 per cent, which is less than one-third of the per cent reported for 
the tenth city, while in the United States as a whole the per cent 
was 12.7. 

In respect to illiterates in the native white population of native 
parentage, San Francisco had 0.2 per cent. Only 2 of the 10 cities 
reported a smaller per cent, while it was 3.7 per cent for the United 
States. 

In respect to illiterates in the native white population of foreign or 
mixed parentage, San Francisco had 0.2 per cent. No one of the 10 
cities reported a smaller per cent, while for the United States it 
was 1.1. 



RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES AND THEIR 

UTILIZATION. 

In the following pages certain tables are presented, showing com- 
parative figures for San Francisco and the other nine cities in the same 
population class, with respect to resources available for educational 
purposes, and the extent to which these resources are utilized in 
certain particulars. The tables are based on data given in the 
93S15— 17 — -2 



18 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FRANCISCO. 



reports of the Census Bureau and the Commissioner of Education 
Table 8 presents the facts from which the six tables following are 
derived. 

Table 8. — Some facts concerning 10 cities having a population of 300,000 to 500,000 in 

1915. 



Cities. 



Esti- 
mated 
popula- 
tion, 
1915.1 



Estimated 

true value 

real and 

personal 

property, 

1915. 2 



Children 
5 to 19 
years 
of age, 
1915.3 



Males 21 

years of 

age and 

over, 

1915.3 



Total 
revenue 
rc< eipts 
for public 
schools, 
1915-16.* 



Buffalo 

SAN FRANCISCO 

Los Angeles 

Milwaukee 

Cincinnati 

Newark 

New Orleans 

Washington 

Minneapolis 

Seattle 

Average 



457,723 
452,255 
452, 140 
419, 589 
402, 175 
389, 10G 
301,221 
350, 028 
343, 400 
313,029 



5 $598, 
1,083, 
950, 
583, 
59S, 
403, 
320, 
010 
6 700 
487 



350,000 
,788,878 
,200,080 
,931,904 
,925,430 
, 199, 704 
,989,413 
,707,911 
,5(56,401 
,943,753 



129,089 
89, 103 
95,081 
120,718 
100, 779 
108,854 
104,314 
S3, 959 
83,042 
03,008 



138,417 
190,807 
102,742 
120,942 
120,008 
115,004 
103,352 
111,583 
119,999 
134, 195 



301,708 
004, 459 
283,755 
402,308 
303, 401 
185,005 
118,356 
354,486 
300,330 
484,039 



394,073 



035,073,559 



97,806 



132,908 



2,904,408 



1 Financial statistics of cities, 1915, Bureau of the Census. 

* Based on figures of assessed valuation and per cent basis of assessment reported, in financial statistics 
of cities, 1915, Bureau of He ( ensus. 

* Estimate for 1915 based on rer < cut age-distribution figures for 1910. 

* Exclusive of loans, bond sales, unpaid warrants, sales of property, proceeds of insurance adjustments, 
and other nonrevenue re< eipts. 

&1nc ludes $47,781,000 of property "subject to special property taxes"; basis of assessment not reported. 
« Includes $10,595,000 of property "subject to special property taxes"; basis of assessment not reported. 

Table 9. — Value of property for each adult male in 10 cities, 1915. 

1. Los Angeles $5,839.09 

2. Minneapolis. 5, 838. 18 

3. SAN FRANCISCO 5,078.24 

4. Washington 5,527.43 

5. Cincinnati 4,753.07 

C. Milwaukee 4, GOO. 00 

7. Buffalo 4,481.79 

8. Seattle 3, 633. 08 

9. Newark 3,487.76 

10. New Orleans 3,164.45 

Average 4, 776. 12 



Los Angeles 


$5,839 


Minneapolis 


5,838 


SAH FRABCISCO 


5,678 


Washington 


5,527 


Cinoinnati 


4,753 


Milwaukee 


4,600 


Buffalo 


4,481 


Seattle 


3.633 


Newark 


3,487 


Hew Orleans 


3.164 


AVERAGE 


4.776 



Figuke 4.— Value of property /or each adult male. 



THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 19 

As shown in Table 9 and Figure 4, San Francisco ranks third in the 
list of 10 cities in value of property for each adult male. The amount 
in San Francisco is 79.5 per cent greater than that in the lowest city 
in the list, and 18.8 per cent greater than the average for the 10 cities. 

Table 10. — Value of property for each child 5 to 19 years of age in 10 cities, 1915. 

1. SAN FRANCISCO $12,155.14 

2. Los Angeles 9,994.28 

3. Minneapolis 8,436.29 

4. Seattle 7,736.79 

5. Washington 7,346.06 

6. Cincinnati 5, 942. 96 

7. Milwaukee 4,837.16 

8. Buffalo 4,635.22 

9. Newark 3, 704. 04 

10. New Orleans 3, 134. 66 

Average 6,792.26 



*SAB FRABCISCO $ IB, 155 



Los Angelas 


9,994 


Minneapolis 


8,436 


Seattle 


7,736 


Washington 


7,346 


Cincinnati 


5,942 


Milwaukee 


4,837 


Buffalo 


4,635 


Newark 


3,704 


Hew Orleans 


3,134 


AVERAGE 


6,792 




Figuke 5.— Value of property for each child 5 to 19 years of age. 

Comparing the 10 cities in respect to amount of wealth for each child 
of school age, as shown in Table 10 and Figure 5, San Francisco heads 
the list with $12,155.14, which is nearly four times the amount re- 
ported for the lowest city in the list, and nearly twice the average for 
the 10 cities. 

Table 11. — Value of property, by Slates, for each child 5 to 18 years of age, 1913} 

1. CALIFORNIA $15, 500 

2. Washington 10,400 

3. New York 9,900 

4. Minnesota 8, 900 

5. New Jersey 8,100 

6. Ohio , 7,300 

7. Wisconsin 6, 400 

8. Louisiana 3, 800 

Average 8,787 

i The States included in this list are those in which the ten cities in the population class of San Fran- 
tisco are located. 



20 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Since a portion of the support of city school systems is derived from 
State taxation, a comparison of the resources of the States in which the 
9 cities are located is of value (omitting the District of Columbia). 
As shown in Table 11 and Figure 6, California ranks first among these 



CALIFORNIA 


$15,500 


Washington 


10,400 


Hew York 


9,900 


Minnesota 


8,900 


New Jersey 


8,100 


Ohio 


7,300 


Wisoonsin 


6,400 


Louisiana 


3,800 


AVERAGE 


8.787 



Figure 6.— Value of property, by States, for each child 5 to 18 years of age, 1913. 

8 States in respect to value of property for each child 5 to 18 years of 
age. The amount in California is 59.2 per cent greater than the 
average for the next 3 States, $9,733, and 76.4 per cent greater than 
the average for the 8 States. 

Table 12. — Number of males 21 years of age and over, for each 100 children 5 to 19 years 

of age in 10 cities, 1915. 

1. SAN FRANCISCO '.. 214.1 

2. Seattle 212.8 

3. Los Angeles 171. 2 

4. Minneapolis 144. 5 

5. Washington 132. 9 

6. Cincinnati 125 

7. Buffalo , 107. 2 

8. Newark 106.2 

9. Milwaukee 105. 2 

10. New Orleans 99.1 

Average 141. 8 



SAK FRAHCI3C0 


214.1 


Seattle 


212.8 


Los Angeles 


171.2 


Minneapolis 


144.5 


Washington 


132.9 


Cincinnati 


125.0 


Buffalo 


107.2 


Kewark 


106.2 


Milwaukee 


105.2 


Hew Orleans 


99.1 


AVERAGE 


141.8 



Figure 7.— Number of adult males for each 100 children 5 to 19 years of age. 

As shown in Table 12 and Figure 7, San Francisco ranks first of the 
10 cities in number of adult males for each 100 children of school 
age. The number in San Francisco is 50.9 per cent greater than the 
average for the 10 cities, and is more than twice the number reported 
for the lowest city. 



THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 21 

SUMMARY. 

San Francisco is a young and vigorous city. In loss than three- 
quarters of a century, within the lifetime of many men and women 
who now live within its borders, it has from a small struggling village 
become ono of the groat and important cities of the world. Its loca- 
tion at ono of the doors of the continent through which must pass 
much of the life and tho business of the continent affects inevitably 
its character, its growth, and its development. Its cosmopolitan 
population makes possible for it a rich and varied culture. Its open 
climate and its geographical environment contribute to freedom of 
outdoor life, to love of pleasure, and to tho development of artistic 
temporament. 

Fow other communities in the world are so able to maintain their 
schools and to supply them abundantly with all buildings, equip- 
ment, and teachers that may be needed for their highest efficiency, at 
whatever cost may be necessary. 

California is, in proportion to the number of children of school age ; 
one of the richest States in the world, probably surpassed in this 
respect by only one, and the estimated value of property in San Fran- 
cisco as compared with the number of children of school ago is much 
larger than in any other city of its class in the United States. It has 
more than twice the average in tho other nine cities having a popula- 
tion between three and'fivo hundred thousand. 

Tho proportion of men and women of producing ago to children of 
school age is very large in San Francisco. The proportion of men of 
producing ago to children of school age is more than twice as large as 
the average proportion in the four cities of Buffalo, Newark, Milwaukee, 
and Now Orleans, and is 60 per cent larger than the other nine cities 
of its class. Neither the city, nor the State in which it is located and 
of which it forms a part, is burdened with debt, and both city and 
State have considerable vested school funds and school lands of 
increasing value. 

Like other Western States and cities, California and San Francisco 
have adopted many advanced principles and methods in their polit- 
ical government and civic life which demand for their proper func- 
tioning universal intelligence and virtue of a very high grade, which 
can be had only through universal education of an equally high grade, 
just as tho woalth and matorial prosperity of the State and city require 
broad and sound culture and high idealism as protection against tho 
corruption of material woalth and death in the din and dust of trade. 

Therefore, the people of San Francisco and their representatives 
on the board of education and city council and in State legislature 
may and should, in planning for the future development of the 
public-school system of the city, take counsel of perfection. This 
city has the ability — if it may only have the vision and wisdom — to 
make its schools models for the country and for the world. 



Chapter II. 

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. 

In 1910, of all children 6 to 9 years of age, 80 per cent were reported 
as having attended some kind of school at some time during the 
school year just ending; of those 10 to 14 years of age, 92 per cent had 
attended; 15 to 17 years, 49.3 percent; 18 to 20 years, 11.8 percent. 

Before presenting the figures collected by the survey commission, 
certain comparisons based on school reports from the 10 cities are 
of interest. The figures for total enrollment in the public schools 
for the school year 1915-16 are given in Table 13. 

Table 13. — Comparative enrollment in public elementary and high schools of 10 cities, 

1915-16. 1 





Total enrollment. 




City. 


Elementary 

schools 
and kinder- 
gartens. 


High 
schools. 


Estimated 

population] 
in 1915.* .j 




6S.o50 
66.055 
60,337 
52.674 
52.201 
5l.2?0 
45. 787 
44.637 
43.235 
30. 749 


11,710 
5,218 
5,879 
5,808 
7,2*5 
4,664 
8, 339 
2, $95 
4,929 
6,420 


452,140 




3s;t, 106 


BulTalo 


457, 723 




419,5*9 


Washington 


356,028 


SAN FRANCISCO 


452.255 




343.466 




301,221 




402,175 


Seattle 


313,029 








51,643 


6,309 


394,673 







* From reports to the Bureau of Education. 



8 From reports of the Census Bureau. 



From the data contained in Table 13 are derived the comparisons 
presented in the following tables: 

Table 14. — Number of elementary school pupils (1915-16) per 1,000 population (1915} 

in 10 cities. 

1. Newark 172.1 

2. I.os Angeles 151. 6 

3. Washington 14G. 9 

4. II iu ncapolia 133. 3 

5. Buffalo 131.8 

G. Milwaukee 125.5 

7. New Orleans 123.6 

8. SAN FRANCISCO 113.3 

9. Cincinnati 107. 5, 

10. Seattle 98. 2 



Average 130.3 



22 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 23 

Comparing San Francisco with the other 9 cities in the same popu- 
lation class, Table 14 and Figure 8, only 2 other cities rank lower in 
the number of pupils in the public elementary schools per 1,000 of 



Newark 


172.1 


L03 Angeles 


151.6 


Washington 


146.9 


Minneapolis 


133.3 


Buffalo 


131.8 


Milwaukee 


125.5 


New Orleans 


123.6 


*SAN FRANCISCO 


113.3 


Cincinnati 


107.5 


Seattle 


98.2 


AVERAGE. 


130.3 



Figure S.— Number of elementary school pupils per 1,000 population. 

the total population. The average for the 10 cities is 15 per cent 
greater than the number in San Francisco, and the average for the 
first 5 cities in the list is nearly 30 per cent greater. 

Table 15. — Number of high-school pupils (1915-16) per 1,000 population (1915) in 10 

cities. 

1. Los Angeles „ 25.9 

2. Minneapolis 24. 3 

3. Seattle 20. 5 

4. Washington 20. 3 

5. Milwaukee 13.8 

6. Newark 13.4 

7. Euffalo 12. 8 

8. Cincinnati 12.3 

9. SAN FRANCISCO 10.3 

10. New Orleans 8 

Average ig. 1 

As shown in Table 15 and Figure 9 only one city in the list ranks 
lower than San Francisco in number of high-school pupils per 1,000 
of population. The average of the 10 cities is 56.3 per cent greater 



Los Angeles 


25.9 


Minneapolis 


24.3 


Seattle 


20.5 


Washington 


20.3 


Milwaukee 


13.8 


Newark 


13.4 


Buffalo 


12.8 


Cinoinnati- 


12.3 


rSAN FRANCISCO 


10.3 


New Orleans 


8.0 


AVERAGB 


16.1 


Figure 9.—] 



-Number of high school pupils per 1,000 population. 

than the number in San Francisco. Washington and Seattle have 
approximately twice, and Minneapolis and Los Angeles two and 
one-half times as many pupils in the high schools, proportionately, 
as San Francisco. 



24 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Table 16. — Number of high-school pupils per 1,000 elementary-school pupils (1915-16) 

in 10 cities. 

1. Seattle 208. 8 

2. Minneapolis 182. 1 

3. Los Angeles 170. 8 

4. Washington 138. 4 

5. Cincinnati 114 

6. Milwaukee 110. 3 

7. Buffalo 97. 4 

8. SAN FRANCISCO 91 

9. Newark 77. 9 

10. New Orleans 64. 9 

Average 125. 5 

Comparing the number of high-school pupils in proportion to the 
number of elementary school pupils, as shown in Table 16 and Figure 
10, San Francisco again ranks low. Seattle and Minneapolis have 
more than twice as many high-school pupils, on this basis; and the 
average of the first four cities, 175 per 1,000 elementary school 



Seattle 


£08.8 


Minneapolis 


182.1 


Los Angeles 


170.8 


Washington 


138.4 


Cincinnati 


114.0 


Milwaukee 


110.3 


Buffalo 


97.4 


*SAB FRABCISC0 


91.0 


Newark 


77.9 


Hew Orleans 


64.9 


AVERAGE 


126.6 



Figure 10.— Number of high-school pupils per 1,000 elementary school pupils. 

pupils, is 92.3 per cent greater than the number in San Francisco. 
The average for the 10 cities is 37.9 per cent greater than the number 
in San Francisco. 

The comparisons presented in the following pages are derived 
from the data in Table 8, page 18, 

Table 17. — Total revenue receipts for public schools (1915-16) for each adult male (1915} 

in 10 cities. 

1. Los Angeles $32. 47 

2. Washington 30. 06 

3. Newark 27. 55 

4. Buffalo 24. 29 

5. Minneapolis 19. 72 

6. Milwaukee 19.40 

7. Cincinnati 18. 76 

8. Seattle 18. 51 

9. SAN FRANCISCO 16.06 

10. New Orleans 10. 82 

Average 21. 76- 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 25 

With available resources notably greater than the other cities, 
San Francisco ranks next to the lowest in the amount spent on public 
schools for each adult male, as shown in Table 17 and Figure 11. 



Los Angeles $32.47 ■ 

Washington 30.06 ■ 

Newark £7.55 ■ 

Buffalo 24.29 a 

Minneapolis 19.72 ■ 

Milwaukee 19.40 - 

Cinolnn&ti 18.76 - 

Seattle 18.61*- 

*SAH FRANCISCO 16.06 a 

New Orleans 10.82 & 



AVERAGE 21.76 



Figure 11.— Total school revenue receipts for each adult male. 

The average for the 10 cities is 35.4 per cent greater, and the average 
for the first 4 cities, $28.59, is 78 per cent greater, than the amount 
spent in San Francisco. 

Table 18. — Total revenue receipts for public schools (1915-16) for each child 5 to 19 years 

of age (1915) in 10 cities. 

1. Los Angeles $55. 57 

2. Washington 39. 95 

3. Seattle 39. 39 

4. SAN FRANCISCO 34.37 

5. Newark 29. 26 

6. Minneapolis 28. 50 

7. Buffalo 1 26. 04 

8. Cincinnati 23. 45 

9. Milwaukee 20. 40 

10. New Orleans 10.72 

Average 30. 76 

Comparing the amounts raised for public school purposes for each 
child of school age, Table 18 and Figure 12 show that San Francisco 
is surpassed by only 3 cities. The amount in San Francisco is above 



Los Angeles #55.57 

Washington 39.95 

Seattle 39.39 

*3AH FRANCISCO 34.37 

Hewark 29.26 

Minneapolis 28.50 

Buffalo 26.04 

Cincinnati 23.45 

Milwaukee 20.40 

Hew Orleans 10.72 

AVERAGE 30.76 



Figure 12.— Total school revenue receipts for each child 5 to 19 years of age. 

the average for the 10 cities, and more than three times that reported 
for the lowest city in the list. It is, however, less than 62 per cent 
of the amount in Los Angeles. 



26 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FRANCISCO. 

Table 19. — Total revenue receipts for public schools (1915-16) for each $1,000 of 

wealth (1915) in 10 cities. 

1. Newark $7. 90 

2. Buffalo 5. G2 

3. Los Angeles 5. 56 

4. Washington 5.44 

5. Seattle 5. 09 

G. Milwaukee 4.22 

7. Cincinnati 3. 95 

8. New Orleans 3.42 

9. Minneapolis '. 3. 38 

10. SAN FRANCISCO 2.83 

Average 4. 74 

Table 19 and Figure 13 show that San Francisco ranks conspicu- 
ously behind other cities in the amount raised for public-school pur- 
poses in proportion to wealth. Proportionately, Washington, Los 



Newarfe $7.90 

Buffalo 5.62 

Los Angeles 5.56 

Washington 5.44 

Seattle 5.09 

Milwaukee 4. £2 

Cincinnati 3.95 

Kew Orleans 3.42 

Minneapolis 3.38 

*SAU FRAUCISC0 2.83 

AVERAGE 4.74 



Figure 13.— Total school revenue receipts for each $1,000 of wealth. 

Angeles, and Buffalo spend nearly twice as much, and Newark nearly 
three times as much. The average for the 10 cities is 67.4 per cent 
greater than the amount raised in San Francisco. 

Table 20. — Total revenue receipts for public schools (1915-16) per capita of total 
population (1915) in 10 cities. 

1. Los Angelea $11.69 

2. Washington 9.42 

3. Newark 8. 19 

4. Seattle 7. 94 

5. Buffalo 7. 34 

6. Minneapolis 6. 89 

7. SAN FRANCISCO 6.78 

8. Cincinnati. 5. 88 

9. Milwaukee 5.87 

10. New Orleans 3.10 

Average = . . 7. 31 

Comparing the cities on the basis of amount raised for public- 
school purposes per capita of total population, San Francisco ranks 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OP THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 27 

seventh in the list, with $6.78, as shown in Table 20 and Figure 14. 
The average for the 10 cities is 7.8 per cent greater than the amount 



Los Angoles 


$11.69 


Washington 


9.42 


Hewark 


8.19 


Seattle 


7.94 


Buffalo 


7.34 


Minneapolis 


6.69 


*SAB FRANCISCO 


6.78 


Cinoinnati 


5c68 


Milwat&ee 


5.87 


New Orleans 


3.10 


AVERAGE 


7.31 



Figure 14.— Total school revenue receipts per capita of total population. 

raised in San Francisco, and the average for the first 4 cities in the 
list. $9.31, is 37.3 per cent greater. 

Table 21. — Total revenue receipts for public schools for each child enrolled in public high 
schools, elementary schools, and kindergartens (1915-16) in 10 cities. 

1. Seattle $66.83 

2. Los Angeles 65.83 

3 Washington 56. 35 

4. SAN FRANCISCO 54.82 

5. Buffalo 50. 75 

6. Cincinnati 49. 07 

7. Newark 44. 13 

8. Minneapolis 43.71 

9. Milwaukee 42.14 

10. New Orleans 23.52 

Average 50. 99 

Table 21 and Figure 15 show that San Francisco spends somewhat 
more than the average for the 10 cities for each child enrolled in 



Seattle #66.83 ■ m — n — m—i T i iiii i rrtMH i g 

LOS Angeles 65.83 *********** fi*.^^ M .*wim,im»n™t iii w ii m i 

Washington 56.35 " •»>•<■ ■■■■«»» J ^.>u.. J -- J .«n mM »-.. J ^»w 1 y MM 

*SA$ FRANCISCO 54.82 t mmsmiBWiumuimj . mBBBBSWl 

Buffalo 50.75 

Cinoinnati 49.07 

Newark 44.13 

Minneapolis 43.71 

Milwaukee 42.14 

New Orleans 23.52 

AVERAGE 50.99 




Figure 15.— Total school revenue receipts for each child enrolled In public schools. 

the public schools, although the average for the 2 other Pacific coast 
cities, $66.33, is 20.9 per cent greater than the amount spent in San 
Francisco. 



28 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



SALARY OF SUPERINTENDENT. 

That San Francisco ranks conspicuously behind other cities in 
amount of compensation paid to the superintendent of public schools 
is shown in Table 21a and Figure 15a: 

Table 21a. — Salary of superintendent of schools in 10 cities, 1915-16. 

1. Cincinnati $10, 000 

2. Los Angeles 8,000 

3. Minneapolis 8, 000 

4. Milwaukee 7, 500 

• 5. Seattle 7, 500 

6. Newark 7, 000 

7. Buffalo r G, 000 

8. Washington « 6,000 

9. New Orleans 5,000 

10. SAN FRANCISCO 4,000 

Average 6, 900 



Cincinnati 


$10,000 


Los Angeles 


8,000 


Minneapolis 


8,000 


Milwaukee 


7,500 


Seattle 


7,500 


Newark 


7,000 


Buffalo 


6,000 


Washington 


6.000 


Hew Orleans 


5.000 


*SAB FRAHCISCO 


4,000 


AVERAGE 


6,900 



Figure 15a.— Salary of superintendent of schools. 

The average for the 10 cities is 72.5 per cent greater than the salary 
paid in San Francisco. Two cities pay their superintendents twice 
as much as San Francisco, and Cincinnati pays two and one-half 
times as much. 



Cleveland 


$12,000 


Boston 


10,000 


Chicago 


10,000 


Cincinnati 


10.000 


Hew York 


10.000 


Detroit 


9,000 


Philadelphia 


9,000 


Pittsburgh 


9,000 


Los Angeles 


8,000 


Minneapolis 


8,000 


AVERAGE 


9.600 


*SAB FRAHCISCO 


4,000 



Figure 15b.— Salary of superintendent of schools. 

The inadequacy of the salary paid the superintendent of schools 
in San Francisco is emphasized still further by comparison with the 
amounts paid in the 10 cities reporting the highest salaries, shown in 
Table 21b and Figure 15b. 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 29 

Table 21b. — Salary of superintendent of -public schools in 10 cities, 1915-16. 

1. Cleveland. $12, 000 

2. Boston 10, 000 

3. Chicago 10, 000 

4. Cincinnati 10, 000 

5. New York 10, 000 

6. Detroit 9,000 

7. Philadelphia 9, 000 

8. Pittsburgh 9, 000 

9. Los Angeles 8, 000 

10. Minneapolis . J 8, 000 

Average 9, 500 

SAN FRANCISCO 4,000 

From this comparison it appears that San Francisco has not kept 
pace with the tendency observable throughout the country in recent 
years to magnify the dignity and importance of the work of the city 
superintendent of schools, as indicated in the salary attached to that 
office. Of the 10 cities in this list the lowest pay twice as much salary 
as San Francisco. Four cities pay two and one-half times as much, 
and Cleveland pays three times as much. 

The facts presented in the following pages were collected by the 
survey commission at the time of its visit to San Francisco and relate 
to the first half of the school year ended December 17, 1915. 

DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOOL FACILITIES. 

The smallest unit of area for which the 1910 census reports the popu- 
lation of San Francisco is the State assembly district. In Figure 16 
is shown an outline map of the city with the approximate boundaries 
of assembly districts, with the population of each. 

As shown in Figure 17, the five high schools are located within an 
area inclosed by a circle of approximately 2 miles diameter in the 
central portion of the city. Those children who reside within a rea- 
sonable distance of the center of this area are given their choice of 
the several types of high-school curriculum which the city provides 
under the prevailing system. Theoretically the same choice is open 
to all children, but the distances to be traversed and the difficulties 
involved in getting about in certain directions, because of topographic 
features, operate to prevent the exercise of such choice. 

Not only are many thousands of children thus practically denied 
a choice of high-school work, but, as shown by comparing Figure 17 
with Figure 16, there are large portions of San Francisco's population 
that have no high-school accommodations at all within convenient 
reach. To illustrate: The special type of service rendered by the 
Polytechnic High School is practically denied to most of the residents 
of districts 32 and 33 because of prohibitive distances. These two 




Figuke 16.— Population of San Francisco, by assembly districts, 1910. 




1. Commercial. 2. Mission. 3. Polytechnic. 4. Lowell. 5. Girls. 

Figure 17.— The five high schools are located within an area inclosed by a circle of approximately 2 milos 
diameter in the central portion of the city. Comparing this map with Figure I6.it is clear that large por- 
tions of San Francisco's population are not provided with high-school accommodations. For e.xamplo, 
the special l \ pe of service rendered bv the Polytechnic High School is practically denied to most of the 
resident* of districts 32 and 33, because of prohibitive distances. These two districts have no high <=choof 
within their boundaries, although in 1910 thev had a population of 76,51)7— a population larger than Peoria, 
111., Elizabeth, N. J., Schenectady, N. Y., or Fort Worth, Tex. 

30 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OP THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 31 

districts have no high school within their boundaries, although in 
1910 they had a population of 76,567 — a population larger than that 
of Peoria, 111., Elizabeth, N. J., Schenectady, N. Y., or Fort Worth, 
Tex. 

As shown in Table 15, page 23, San Francisco has 10.3 students in 
her high schools per 1,000 of population. If the proportion is the 
same for these two districts, there were here 788 high-school students 
to be accommodated in 1910. The average enrollment of the five 
high schools in San Francisco was only 887 in 1915. 

Figures 18 and 19 afford a basis for comparing the distribution of 
elementary schools with reference to the distribution of population 
by assembly districts. In studying the problem of distribution of 
elementary-school facilities the facts in Table 22 should be taken into 
consideration. 

Table 22. — Number of elementary schools containing specified grades. 

Grades. Number of schools. 

All grades, coeducational 40 

All grades, girls only 2 

Grades 1, 2 1 

1,2,3 3 

1, 2, 3, 4 11 

1,2,3,4, 5 15 

1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6 1 

•1,2,3,4,5,6,7 1 

1,5, 6, 7, 8 1 

4, 5, G, 7, 8 1 

5, 6, 7, 8 2 

6,7,8 2 

Mixed grades (parental) 1 

Ungraded primary 1 

Total 82 

It is to be noted that of the 82 elementary schools, only 42 offer 
work in all grades, and of these two admit girls only. Work is 
offered in both seventh and eighth grades in 48 schools only. This 
much would be amply sufficient and moro to put schools of this grade 
within easy reach of all children in the city if the schools were well 
distributed with duo regard both to density of population and topo- 
graphic features; but unfortunately this is not the case. 

There are many instances of schools located in adjoining blocks, 
and other instances of spaces where the distances between schools 
are excessive. To illustrate: Districts 28 and 44, adjoining the 
ferry, with a combined population of 32,680 in 1910, contain but two 
schools — the Oriental School, including all grades, but not admitting 
white children, and the Rincon School, a two-teacher school, offering 
work in tho first, second, and third grades only. According to Table 
9, San Francisco has 113.3 elementary-school pupils per 1,000 of 



32 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN PEAXCISCO. 



GOLDEN GATC 




RICHMOND 



GOLDEN GATE PARK 



35.250 J36AV 



39 

31,564. 

SUNSET 



■ — L/ J 12,84* j 13,787 

i as I SL ~ 



TWTN • 
PEAKS / 



34- 

S 36.970 



SAN FRANCISCO 

POPULATION 

BY 

ASSEMBLY DISTRICTS 

I9IO 




Fig. 18.— Population of San Francisco, by assembly districts, 1910. 




SAN FRAN GSSC0 

LOCATION OF 
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

BY 
ASSEMBLY DISTRICTS 



SAN MATEO COUNTY 



Fig. 1!*.— Although there arc a number of instances of schools located in adjoining blocks, there are also 
a number of spaces where the distances between schools are excessive. For example, districts 28 and 44, 
with a combined population of 32,680, contain but two schools, and these are located near the boundaries. 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 33 

population. If the proportion is the same for these two districts, 
there were here 3,702 elementary-school pupils to be accommodated 
in 1910. 

The problem of the proper location of school buildings and distri- 
bution of school facilities is one requiring careful and expert study 
and thorough knowledge of local conditions, and an outside survey 
commission must approach it with caution. The problem can not 
be solved by merely taking a map and marking off a symmetrical 
and orderly arrangement of building sites. 

Certain definite suggestions relating to individual schools or dis- 
tricts are offered in appropriate chapters of this report, but the 
larger problems of the location of schools must be settled by policies 
of the board of education based on further detailed studies made by 
its own experts. All that is attempted here is to suggest one method 
of approach and to call attention to the fact that the fundamental 
consideration should be the children and their needs. 

THE CHILDREN IN THE SCHOOLS. 

The first step in the study of the children in the school system is 
to ascertain how many children there are, of what ages, and in what 
school grades. This is called an age-grade distribution and is pre- 
sented in Table 23. 

The data upon which this table is based were obtained by the 
survey commission directly from the principals and teachers. They 
were requested to report the ages of pupils " computed as of Sep- 
tember 1, 1915. Thus, a pupil 6 years and 5 months old September 1, 
1915, should be recorded as '6 to 6i ; ; similarly, a pupil 6 years and 
11 months old September 1, 1915, should be recorded as '6J to 7 ; etc." 

Theoretically, a child entering school at the age of 6 years, and 
progressing at the normal rate of two grades (A and B) per year, 
should complete the elementary course at 14 years of age. It is gen- 
erally agreed that the latest normal age for completing the ele- 
mentary-school course is 15 years, which requires that pupils in 
the 8B grade shall not be more than 14 £ years old on September 1. 
The corresponding normal ages for other grades are found by adding 
or subtracting six months for each half year of the school course. 
This method of computation, therefore, allows a latitude of one full 
year of age for each half year of the school course in designating the 
children regarded as of normal age. 

In Table 23, in each grade, the numbers in the columns to the 

left of the heavy rules indicate the children who are ahead of their 

grade (accelerated), the numbers set within the heavy rules indicate 

the children who are up to grade (of normal age), and the numbers in 

93S15— 17 3 



34 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN PEANCISCO. 



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A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



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36 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

the columns to the right of the heavy rules indicate the children who 
are behind their grade (retarded). 

The student of this table will observe at once — 

(1) The wide spread in years of age represented by the enroll- 
ment in individual grades. Grades 1A and 2A contain pupils rang- 
ing in age from under 6 to over 19 years; grade 6B contains pupils 
ranging in age from 9 to 19 years; and so on. 

(2) The wide distribution through the grades of pupils in indi- 
vidual age groups. Pupils who are 13 to 13 J years of age are found 
in all grades from 1A to the second year of high school; pupils 15 to 
15 h years of age, in all grades from 1A to the third year of high 
school and so on. 

(3) The large number of children who are above the normal age 
for the grades in which they are enrolled. 

Table 24 summarizes the figures of Table 23, showing the enroll- 
ment by years of the school course. Disregarding the 23 unclassified 
high-school students, the same figures are presented in Figure 20. 
There are 9,058 children in the first grade, but only 2,007 in the 
first year of high school, and only 439 in the fourth year of high 
school. 

Passing from the first to the second year, the number of pupils 
dropping out is 19.7 per cent of the enrollment in the first year. 
Passing from the eighth year of the elementary school to the first year 
of high school, the " elimination " is 37.5 per cent of the eighth-year 
enrollment. From the first year of high school to the second the 
elimination is 39.8 per cent, and from the second to the third year 
the elimination is 51.1 per cent. 

Table 24. — Number of pupils in each year of the public schools of San Francisco, August- 
December, 1915. (See Table 23 and Figure 20.) 

Year. Number of pupils. 

Elementary school: 

1 9,058 

2 7, 271 

3 6,703 

4 5, 965 

5 5, 546 

6 4, 725 

7 4, 009 

8 3, 215 

High school: 

I 2,007 

II.. 1,198 

III , .• .- 585 

IV 439 

Special (unclassified) 23 

Total , 50, 744 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



37 



9.000 



8,000 



7,000 



6.000 



5,000 



SAN FRANCISCO 

GRADE DISTRIBUTION 

PUBLIC SCHOOL PUPILS 

AU6-DEC 1915 




4,000 



2,000 



7 8 13 JH w 



Figure 20.— With 9,058 children in the first grade, only 2,007 are found in the first year of high school, 
and only 439 in the fourth year. This figure disregards 23 unclassified hi.eh-scr col students. A side from 
the drop following the first year, the greatest elimination takes place after the eighth, ninth, and tenth 
years. 



38 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 



Table 25 summarizes the figures of Table 23, showing the number 
of children in the public schools for each year of age, and the same 
distribution is shown in Figure 21. The number of children 14 years 
of age is 12.7 per cent less than the number 13 years of age; the num- 
ber of 15-year-olds is 28.3 per cent less than the number of 14-year- 
olds; the number of 16-year-olds is 44.4 *per cent less than the number 
of 15-year-olds; the number of 17-year-olds is 46.2 per cent less than 
the number of 16-year-olds. 



6,000 



5,000 



4,000 



V// * 

I 



ii 



-ii 



i 






ii 









■ill 



I 



- 



ill 



f K 



il 



il 



™1 '%mm 



1 



SAN FRANCISCO 

AGE DISTRIBUTION 

F'JBLIC SCHOOL PUPILS 

AUG-0PC I9IS 



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i 



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I 



ll 



il 



ill 



I 



I 



11 



nil 



iii 



^ 



10 II 12 13 14 




E3 

15 16 17 18 19 



* * 



20 6 21 & 
OVER 



Figure 21.— After 13 years, and especially after 14, 15, and 1C years of age, the elimination of pupils from 
the public schools is very rapid. 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



39 



Table 25. — Age distribution of 'pupils in the public elementary and high schools of San 
Francisco, August- December, 1915. (See Table 23 and Figure 21.) 

Age. Number of pupils. 
Under 6 years 688 

6 years 5, 707 

7 years 6,019 

8 years 5, 575 

9 years 5,262 

10 years 4,777 

11 years 4,618 

12 years 4,601 

13 years '.'. 4, 315 

14 years 3,767 

15 years 2, 698 

16 years ' 1, 400 

17 years 806 

18 years. 330 

19 years 118 

20 years 46 

21 years and over 17 

Total 50,744 

As shown in Table 26 and Figure 22, however, the available figures 
for the composition of the population of San Francisco by age periods 
do not afford an explanation of the rapid falling off in numbers of 
children in the public schools after 13 years of age, nor of the rapid 



SAN FRANCISCO 

DISTRIBUTION OF CHILDREN OF SCHOOL AGE 



TOTAL POPULATION: 1910 





19.81 1 


W/fMfMf/M 






24,822 




w/Jmdw/y/M 




17.842 






w)f?/Amfy/y//A 






22,693 


. m 


w///M//Jw^/km 



ASES PUPILS IN PUBLIC SCMOOL6 . 1»I5 

6 TO 9 YRS 



10 TO 14. 



i» 


^ 


M^ 


M^ 


^« 












t^d 


^ 


» 


#t 


^ * 


l«l 


4,904 








| 49* 



563 

07S 



25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,1 



NUMBER 



6,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 



Figure 22.— The age distribution of the total population in San Francisco, in 1910, for ages 6 to 20 years 
shows no marked falling off in the numbers in the age periods following 14 years to correspond with the 
falling off in numbers of pupils in school in 1915. The reader is cautioned against attempting a direct 
comparison between the number of children in a given age group in 191 with the number of pupils of 
these ages in school in 1915. 

falling off in numbers of children after the eighth school year. The 
age distribution of the total population of the city, in 1910, for ages 6 
to 20 years, shows no marked falling off in the numbers in the age 
periods following 14 years to correspond with the falling off in num- 
bers of public-school pupils in 1915. 



40 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 26.— Distribution of children of school age, San Francisco: (1) Total populatio n, 
1910; (2) pupils in public schools, 1915. 



Age. 



6 to 9 years... 
10 to 14 years 
15 to 17 years 
18 to 20 years 



Total pop- 
ulate n, 
1910. 



19,811 
24, v 22 
17,842 
22,*93 



Pupils in 

public 

schools, 

1915. 



22,563 
22,078 
4,904 



SAN FRANCISCO AND OTHER CITIES. 

Table 27 presents the enrollment figures for five other cities, for 
comparison with the enrollment in the San Francisco schools. The 
same figures reduced to per cent basis are shown in Table 28. Com- 
plete reports for the remaining four cities in the same population 
class are not available. 

Table 27. — Distribution of public-school pupils, by grades, in 6 cities. 1 



Grades. 


San Fran- 
cisco 
enrollment, 
Aug.-Dec, 
1915. 


Milwaukee 

enrollment, 

1914-15. 


Seattle 

enrollment, 
1914. 


Wash- 
ington 
enrollment, 
1915-16. 


Cincinnati 
enrollment, 
June, 1914. 


Los Angeles 

enrollment, 

1914. 


Kindergarten 


575 

9,058 
7,271 

6,703 

5,965 

5,546 

4,725 

4.009 

3,215 

2,007 

1,198 

585 

439 

23 


9,859 

7,850 

6,056 

5,139 

5,010 

4,733 

4,577 

4,096 

3,217 

1,763 

1,230 

899 

704 

961 


602 
5,097 
4,022 
3,824 
3,960 
3,722 
3,298 
2,810 
2,409 
2,274 
1,359 
1,079 

799 


3,836 
8,851 
6,665 
6,576 
6,215 
5,944 
5,258 
4,322 
3,741 
2,935 
1,913 
1,178 
872 


3,0.50 
7.05S 
5,524 
5,423 
5,230 
5,006 
4,336 
3,270 
2,697 
1,872 
1,112 
738 
685 


7,897 


Grade 1 


12 798 


2: 


8 028 


3 


8 406 


4 


7,983 
7,154 


5 


6 


6,426 


7 


6,157 


8 


6 134 


I 


» 3,932 
2 454 


II 


Ill 


1,694 
1 192 


IV 


Ungraded 










Total 


51, 319 


56,094 


35,255 


58,306 


46,001 


80, 255 







i From superintendents' reports. 

* The report of the superintendent states 10,439 in one table and 3,932 in another. 

Table 28. — Per cent distribution of public-school pupils, by grades, in 6 cities. 



Grades. 


San Fran- 
cisco. 


Milwaukee. 


Seattle. 


Washing- 
ton. 


Cincinnati. 


Los 
Angeles. 


Kindergarten 


1.1 

17.6 

14.2 

13.1 

11.6 

10.8 

9.2 

7.8 

6.3 

3.9 

2.3 

1.1 

.8 

C 1 ) 


17.6 

14 

10.8 
9.2 
8.9 
8.4 
8.2 
7.3 
5.7 
3.1 
2.2 
1.6 
1.3 

17 


1.7 
14.5 
11.4 

10.8 

11.2 

10.6 

9.4 

7.8 
6.8 
6-5 
3.9 
3.1 
2.3 


6.6 
15.2 
11.4 
11.3 
10.7 
10.2 

9 

7.4 

6.4 

5 

3.3 

2 

1.5 


6.6 
15.3 
12 

11.8 
11.4 
10-9 
9.4 
7.1 
5.9 
4.1 
2.4 
1.6 
1.5 


9.8 


Grade 1* .. 


15.9 


2 


10 


3 


10.5 


4 


9.9 


5 


8.9 


6 ." 


8 


7 


7.7 


8 


7.7 


I 


4.9 


IT 


3 


Ill 


2.1 


IV 


1.5 
















Total 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 







Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



41 



Of the six cities, San Francisco has the smallest per cent of enroll- 
ment in the kindergarten, but the largest in each of the first four 
years of the elementary schools. In the fifth year, San Francisco is 
surpassed by one city in per cent of total enrollment held; in the 
sixth year by two cities ; in the seventh year by none ; in the eighth 
year by three; in the first and second years of the high school by 
four cities; and in the third and fourth years by five cities. The 
average percentage for the five cities in the last two years of the high 
school is nearly twice the percentage for San Francisco; for the last 
year more than twice. 

Table 29 compares the age distribution of public-school pupils in 
San Francisco with that in the three other cities from which reports 
are available. 



Table 29.—- Age distribution of public-school pupils in four cities. 1 



Age in years. 


San Francisco, 
Sept. 1, 1915. 


Milwaukee, 
Sept., 1914. 


Minneapolis, 
1914. 


Cincinnati, 
June, 1914. 




Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Less than 6 years 

6 


688 
5,707 
6,019 
5,575 
5,262 
4,777 
4,618 
4,601 
4,315 
3,767 

1,'400 
806 
330 
118 
46 
17 


1.4 
11.2 
11.9 
11 

10.4 

9.4 

9.1 

9.1 

8.5 

774 

5.3 

2.8 

1.6 

.6 

.2 

.1 

( 2 ) 


7,629 

5,829 

5,603 

5,003 

4,429 

4,417 

4,195 

4,332 

4,429 

4,328 

2,768 

1,527 

885 

457 

194 

51 

18 


13.6 

10.4 

10 

8.9 

7.9 

7.9 

7.5 

7.7 

7.9 

7.7 

4.9 

2.7 

1.6 

.8 

.4 

( 2 )' 


2.299 

4; 888 

4.6G4 

4,407 

4,386 

4,108 

4,128 

4,181 

4,050 

3, 798 

3,186 

2,169 

1,456 

902 

316 

138 

91 


4.7 
9.9 
9.5 
9 

8.9 
8.4 
8.4 
8.5 
8.2 
7.7 
6.5 
4.4 
3 

1.8 
.6 
.3 
.2 


149 

2,661 

4,242 

4,728 

4,383 

4,156 

4,224 

4,216 

3,940 

4,394 

3,754 

2,C32 

1,264 

744 

377 

105 

32 


0.3 

5.8 


7 


9.2 


8 


10.3 


9 


9.5 


10 


9 


11...: 


9.2 


12 


9.2 


13 '.. 


8.6 


14 


9.6 


15 


8.2 


16 


5.7 


17 


2.7 


18 


1.6 


19 


.8 


20 


.2 


Over 20 


.1 






Total 


3 50,744 


100 


56,094 


100 


49, 167 


100 


46,001 


100 







1 From reports of superintendents. 
8 Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. 
* Exclusive of 575 pupils in kindergarten, whese ages were not reported. 

San Francisco has the smallest proportion of children under 6 
years of age, but the largest at each age from 6 to 10 years, inclusive. 
In per cent of pupils 11, 12, and 13 years of age, San Francisco is sur- 
passed by one city; in per cent of pupils 15, 16, 17, and 20 years of 
age, San Francisco is surpassed by two cities; while San Francisco 
ranks lowest of the four cities in per cent of pupils 14, 18, 'and 19 
years of age. 

These figures emphasize the fact, discussed elsewhere, that the San 
Francisco schools do not hold as large proportions of the children 14 
years of age and upward and in the later years of the school course as 
thev should. 



42 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



ACCELERATION AND RETARDATION. 

Table 30 and Figure 23 show the number and per cent of children 
who are under age, of normal age, and over age, respectively, sum- 
marized from Table 23. The elementary schools are evidently not 
well adjusted to the capacities of children, since the grades show 
unduly large proportions of pupils who are too old for their grades. 
Even after making liberal allowance of one full year of age for each 
half year of the school course in designating the children regarded as 
of normal age, more than half of the pupils in grades four to eight, 
inclusive, are over age (retarded). The normal-age group ranges 
from 66 per cent in 1A to 32.9 per cent in 8B, with the minimum of 

28.1 per cent in 6A. 

Of all pupils in the elementary schools, 12.2 per cent are under age, 

41.2 per cent are of normal age, and 46.4 per cent are over age. 
Approximately two-thirds of the pupils in the high schools are of 
normal age. Without doubt, the amount of retardation reported 
is due in part to the presence in the schools of considerable numbers 
of children of foreign parentage. 

Figures relating to the degree of variation from normal age among 
public-school pupils are presented in Table 31. Of 5,652 elementary- 
school pupils who are under normal age, 4,573, or 89 per cent, are 
" accelerated' ' less than one year. 

Table 30. — Number and per cent of children under age, of normal age, and over age. 





Under age. 


Normal age. 


Over age. 




Grades. 


Number. 


Per cent of 

total in 

grade who 

are under 

age. 


Number. 


Per cent of 

total in 
grade who 
are of nor- 
mal age. 


Number. 


Per cent of 
total in 

grade who 

are over 

age. 


Total in 
grade. 


1A 


637 
636 
482 
500 
452 
358 
356 
394 
296 
232 
241 
210 
231 
219 
157 
251 


12 
17 
12.2 
15.2 
11.5 
12.9 
11.7 
13.5 
9.4 
9.7 
9.1 
10.1 
10.6 
12 
10.9 
14.2 


3,512 

2,092 

2,038 

1,535 

1,608 

1,048 

1,093 

918 

955 

703 

746 

634 

658 

567 

429 

580 


66 

56 

51.4 

46.7 

40.9 

37.8 

36 

31.2 

30.3 

29.4 

28.1 

30.6 

30.1 

31.1 

29.6 

32.9 


1,165 
1,016 
1,454 
1,262 
1,879 
1,358 
1,586 
1,618 
1,903 
1,457 
1,672 
1,222 
1,296 
1,038 
863 
935 


22 

27 

36.4 

38.2 

47.6 

49.2 

52.3 

55.3 

60.4 

60.9 

62.8 

59.4 

59.3 

57 

59.5 

53 


5,314 
3,744 


IB 


2A 


3,974 
3,297 
3,939 


2B 


3A 


3B 


2,764 


4A 


3,035 
2,930 
3,154 
2,392 
2,659 
2,066 


4B 


5A 


5B 


6A 


6B 


7A 


2,185 


7B 


1,824 
1,449 


SK 


8B 


1,766 






Total, elementary- 
schools 


5,652 


12.2 


19,116 


41.2 


21,724 


46.4 


46, 492 






I 


144 

108 
73 

76 


7.2 

9 
12.5 
17.3 


1,308 
763 
397 
301 


65.2 
63.8 
69.7 
68.5 


555 

327 

115 

62 


27.6 
27.2 
19.6 
14.2 


2,007 
1,198 


II 


Ill 


585 


IV , 


439 


Special 


23 


















Total, high schools . . 


401 


9.4 


2,769 


65.3 


1,059. 


25.3 


4,252 




6,053 


11.9 


21,891 


43.2 


22, 797 


44.9 


50, 744 







A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



43 



Percentages of Pupils Who Are 
U&deb. Age, Op Normal Age, and Over Ag& 

Grade Under Normal Ov£R 



B 



V77777X 



A g^T- 



*mi 



a P777T 



A ^ 



S^S 



A EE 



b VZZ2. 



kWH 



b WM. 



a ^a 



8^ 



8 



^ 



Percent 



20 




^^^^^ 



ie 



ES5:SSS33S55S3 



T^^ 



E \SS\S\S^ \\Ws^ ^^ 



kVS>\V\V 



^^^ 



kWWV^^W^ 



E^^^^ 



mWNSSSSNH 



S?^W^ 



^^^^^^^ 



^SSS^^ 



^^^^ss^ 



^^^^^^ 



^ss^^^^ 



K\\\W\W\\Wi 



^S^ 



wvwwv ^^^ 



40 



60 



80 



100 



Total, All Grades: 
Under Aee 12.2 

Of Normal Age 41.2 
Over Age 46.4 



Figure 23.— The elementary schools are evidently not well adjusted to the capacities of children, since 
the grades show unduly large proportions oi pupils too old for their grades. E ven alter making the liberal 
Bllowance of one lull year oi age for each half year oi the school course in designating the children regarded as 
of normal age, in grades four to eight, inclusive, more than half of the pupils are over age (retarded). The 
normal-age group ranges from 66 per cent in 1 A to 32.9 per cent in 8B, with the minimum in 6A, 23.1 per cent. 



44 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Of 21,724 elemantary sshool pupils who are over age, 6,916, or 32 
per cent, are " retarded" less than one year; 8,511, or 39.2 per cent, 
are retarded one year and less than two; 3,840, or 17.7 per cent, are 
retarded two years and less than three; 1,574, or 7.2 per cent, are 
retarded three years and less than four; 883, or 4 per cent, are 
retarded four years or more. 

Of 404 high-school pupils who are under normal age, 263, or 65.1 per 
cent, are accelerated less than one year. 

Of 1,073 high-school pupils who are over age, 470, or 43.9 per cent, 
are retarded less than one year; 421, or 39.3 per cent, are retarded 
one year and less than two; 124, or 11.5 per cent, are retarded two 
years and less than three; 38, or 3.5 per cent, are retarded three 
years and less than four; 20, or 1.8 per cent, are retarded four years or 
more. 

The figures relating to degree of variation from normal age, and 
numbers of pupils involved, are shown in Table 31, and, reduced to 
per cent basis, in Table 32. 

Table 31. — Distribution of public-school pupils according to degree of variation from 

normal age. 





Number of pupils under 
normal age. 


Num- 
ber of 
nor- 
mal 
age. 


Number of pupils over age. 




Grades. . 


2 

years 

and 

more. 


1 
year 
and 
less 
than 

2 
years. 


Less 
than 

1 
year. 


Total 
under 
nor- 
mal 
age. 


Less 
than 

1 
year. 


1 
year 
and 
less 
than 

2 
years. 


2 

years 
and 
less 
than 

3 
years. 


3 

years 
and 
less 
than 

4 
years. 


4 

years 

or 
more. 


Total 
over 
nor- 
mal 
age. 


Total. 


1A 






637 
594 
423 
423 

342 
303 

255 
309 

217 
163 

152 
16S 

160 
156 

114 
162 


637 
636 

482 
500 

452 
358 

35P 
3 r 4 

296 
2:<2 

241 
"10 

231 
219 

157 
251 


3,512 
2,092 

2,038 

i, ad 

1,6('8 

1,048 

1,093 
918 

t55 
703 

746 
63 

658 
567 

429 

580 


618 
446 

662 

407 

686 
397 

497 
432 

498 
340 

43c 

oOS 

35D 

283 

256 
301 


389 

588 

545 
565 

700 
512 

532 
622 

656 
538 

!T4 
518 

542 
449 

427 
474 


75 
101 

148 
172 

276 
244 

304 
306 

398 

320 

371 
285 

319 
235 

147 
139 


32 

28 

58 
60 

124 
115 

149 
169 

215 
200 

159 
89 

71 
60 

28 
17 


51 
53 

41 

58 

93 
90 

104 
89 

136 
59 

53 
22 

14 
11 

5 
4 


1,165 
1,016 

1,454 
1,262 

1,879 


5,314 
3,744 

3,974 
3,297 


IB 




42 

59 

77 

109 
55 

101 
84 

79 

68 

84 
45 

70 

58 

41 

88 


2A 




2B 




3A 


1 


3.Q3Q 


3B 


1,358 "> 7fU 


4A 




1,586 
1,618 

1,903 
1,457 

1,672 
1,222 

1,296 
1,038 

863 
935 


3,035 
2,930 

3,154 


4B 


1 


5A 


5B 


1 

5 
2 

1 
5 

2 
1 


2,392 


6A 


2,659 
2,066 

2,185 
1,824 


6B 


7A 


7B 


8A 


1,449 


8B 


1,766 






Total, elementary 
schools 


19 


1,060 


4,573 


5,652 


19,116 


6,916 


8,511 


3,840 


1,574 


883 


VI, 724 


46, 492 






I 


5 
1 
1 
3 


3° 
28 
32 
33 


1 

/9 
40 
40 

3 


144 
108 

73 
76 
• 3 


1,308 

763 

397 

301 

6 


239 
146 
55 
30 


221 

135 

40 

19 

6 


58 
33 
12 
13 

8 


20 
10 
8 


1/ 
3 


555 

327 

115 

62 

14 


2,007 


II 


1,198 
585 


Ill 


IV 


439 


Special 






23 












Total, high schools. 


10 


131 


263 | 404 2,775 


470 


421 


124 


38 20 


1,073 


4,252 


Grand total 


29 


1,191 


4,836 


6,056 


21,891 


7,386 


8,932 


3,964 


1,612 


903 


22,797 


50,744 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



45 



Table 32. — Per cent distribution of public-school pupils according to degree of variation 

from normal age. 





Per cent under normal age. 


Per 
cent of 
normal 

age. 


Per cent 


over age. 






Grades. 


2 

years 

and 

more. 


1 

year 
and 
less 
than 

2 
years. 


Less 
than 

1 
year. 


Total 

under 

normal 

age. 


Less 
than 

1 
year. 


1 
year 
and 
less 
than 

2 
years. 


2 
years 
and 
less 
than 

3 
years. 


3 

years 

and 

less 

than 

4 
years. 


4 

years 

or 
more. 


Total 
over 

normal 
age. 


Total. 


1A 






12 
15.9 

10.6 
12.8 

8.7 
11 

8.4 
10.6 

6.9 
6.8 

5.7 
7.9 

7.3 
8.5 

7.9 
9.2 


12 
17 

12.1 
15.1 

11.5 

13 

11.7 
13.5 

9.4 
9.7 

9.1 
10.2 

10.6 
12 

10.8 
14.2 


66.1 
55.9 

51.3 
46.6 


11.6 
11.9 

16.7 
12.4 


7.3 
10.3 

13.7 
17.1 

17.8 
18.5 

17.6 
21.2 

20.8 
22.5 

24.6 

25.1 

24.8 
24.6 

29.5 
26.8 


1.4 
2.8 

3.7 

5.2 

7 
8.8 

10 
10.4 

12.6 
13.4 

13.9 
13.8 

14.6 
12.9 

10.1 
7.9 


0.6 

.7 

1.5 
1.8 

3.1 

4.2 

4.9 

5.8 

6.8 
8.3 

6 
4.3 

3.3 
3.3 

1.9 
1 


1 
1.4 

1 
1.8 

2.4 

3.2 

3.4 
3 

4.3 
2.4 

2 

1 

0.6 
0.6 

0.4 
0.2 


21.9 
27.1 

36.6 
38.3 

47.7 
49.1 

52.3 
55.2 

60.3 
60.9 

62.9 
59.1 

59.3 
56.9 

59.6 
53 


100 


IB 




1.1 

1.5 
2.3 

2.8 
2 

3.3 
2.9 

2.5 
2.9 

3.2 
2.2 

3.3 
3.2 

2.8 

5 


100 


2A 




100 


2B 




100 


3A 


0) 


40.8 , 17.4 

37. 9 14. 4 


100 


3B 


100 


4A 

4B 


■ ■(!)•■ 


36 
31.3 

30.3 
29.4 

28 
30.7 

30. 1 
31.1 

29.6 
32.8 


16.4 
14.8 

15.8 
14.2 

16.4 
14.9 

16 

15.5 

17.7 
17.1 


100 
100 


5A 


100 


5B 


0.2 

.1 

<?. 

.1 
0) 


100 


6A 


100 


6B 


100 


7A 


100 


7B 


100 


8A 


100 


8B 


100 






Total, elemen- 
tary schools.. 




2.3 


9.9 


12.2 


41.1 


14.9 


18.3 


8.2 


3.4 


1.9 


46.7 


100 


I 


.3 
.1 
.2 

.7 


1.9 
2.3 

5.5 

7.5 


5 

6.6 
6.8 
9.1 
13 


7.2 

9 

12.5 
17.3 
13 


65.2 
63.7 
67.9 
68.6 
26.1 


11.9 
12.2 
9.4 

6.8 


11 

11.3 
6.8 
4.3 

26.1 


2.9 
2.8 
2 
3 
34.8 


1 

.8 
1.4 


.8 
.2 


27.6 
27.3 
19.6 
14.1 
60.9 


100 


II 


100 


Ill 


100 


IV 


100 








100 














Total, high 
schools 


.2 


3.1 


6.2 


9.5 


65.3 


11 


9.9 


2.9 


.9 


.5 


25.2 


100 


Grand total 


.1 


2.3 


9.5 


11.9 


43.2 


14.5 


17.6 


,8 


3.2 


1.8 


44.9 


100 



1 Less than one-tentb of 1 per cent. 
ELIMINATION, PROMOTION, AND NONPROMOTION. 

Table 33 presents the figures for enrollment, elimination, promo- 
tion, and nonpromotion for the elementary schools. Of the 47,454 
pupils enrolled, 3,668 were eliminated during the term, more than 
half of whom dropped out during the first three years of school. Of 
43,786 who remained in class at the end of the term, 6,045 failed of 
promotion, of whom one-fourth were in the first year and nearly one- 
third in the second and third years. 



46 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 33. — Enrollment, elimination, promotion, and non-promotion, San Francisco 
elementary schools, by grades, for the term August-December, 1915. 1 





Total 
enroll- 
ment for 
term. 


Number dropped during term and not 
returning because of — 


Number 
in class 
at end 
of term. 


Number in class 
at end of term. 


Grades. 


Going to 
private 
or paro- 
chial 
schools. 


Left the 
city. 


Absent 
more 
than 

3 whole 
days. 


Total 
dropped 
and not 
return- 
ing. 


Pro- 
moted. 


Not pro- 
moted. 


1A 


5,043 
3,712 

4,048 
3,535 

3,867 
2,940 

3,345 
2,823 

3,141 
2,517 

2,731 
2,208 

2,375 
1,880 

1,744 
1,545 


41 
39 

29 

28 

33 
25 

36 
20 

38 
19 

31 
16 

23 
5 

10 
4 


269 

183 

177 
136 

160 
106 

139 
114 

121 

87 

104 

82 

90 
53 

60 
22 


254 
108 

104 

82 

90 
94 

82 
66 

71 

73 

62 

48 

65 
67 

55 
47 


564 
330 

310 
246 

283 
225 

257 
200 

230 

179 

197 
146 

178 
125 

125 
73 


4,479 
3,382 

3,738 
3,289 

3,584 
2,715 

3,088 
2,623 

2,911 
2,338 

2,534 
2,062 

2,197 
1,755 

1,619 
1,472 


3,511 

2,840 
3,202 
2,773 

3,045 
2,323 

2,656 
2,322 

2,573 
2,067 

2,258 
1,841 

1,906 
1,575 

1,466 
1,383 


968 


IB 


542 


2A 


536 


2B 


516 


3A 


539 


3B 


392 


4A 


432 


4B 


301 


5A 


338 


5B 


271 


6A 


276 


6B 


221 


7A 


291 


7B 


180 


8A 


153 


8B : 


89 






Total 


47, 454 


397 


1,903 


1,368 


3,668 


43,786 


37, 741 


6,045 







1 Includes 962 pupils not reported in age-grade distribution, Table 23. 

Table 34 and Figure 24 summarize the figures of Table 33 on a 
per cent basis. Of pupils who remain in class to the end of the term 
the per cent not promoted is excessive (except in 8B), ranging from 
21.6 per cent in 1A to 6.4 per cent in 8B. 

Table 34. — Per cent of elimination and non promotion, San Francisco elementary grades, 
for the term August-December, 1915. 



Grades. 


Per cent of 

total 

enrollment 

dropped 

during the 

term. 


Per cent of 
number in 
class at 
end of 
term not 
promoted. 


Per cent of 
total 

enrollment 
dropped 
and not 

promoted. 


1A. 




11.2 

8.9 

7.7 
6.9 

7.3 
7.6 

' 7.7 
7.1 

7.3 
7.1 

7.2 
6.J 

7.5 
6.6 

7.2 

4.7 


21.6 
16 

14.6 
15.6 

15 
14.5 

14 
11.5 

11.6 
11.6 

10.9 
10.7 

15.2 
11.4 

10.4 
6.4 


30.4 


IB 


23.4 


2A 


20.9 


2B ;. 


21.6 


3A 


21.2 


3B 


20.9 


4A 


20.5 


4B 


17.7 


5A 


18 


5B 


17.9 


6A 


17.3 


6B 


16.6 


7A 


19.7 


7B 


16 


8A 


15.9 


8B.. 


10.5 




Total 1,2,3 






8.4 
7.1 
6.6 


16.5 
11.7 
10.1 


23.6 




Total 4, 5, 6 

Total 7, 8 


18.1 
16 




Grand total 






7.7 | 


13.7 


20.4 









A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



47 



An encouraging feature is the gradual decrease in the rate of non- 
promotion from 1A to 6B. This is offset, however, by a substantial 
increase in nonpromotion in 7A and 7B. The per cent of nonpromo- 
tion is 16.5 in grades 1, 2, ana* 3; 11.7 in grades 4, 5, and 6; and 10.1 
in grades 7 and 8. 

Including the pupils who drop out during the term with those who 
fail of promotion, the total elimination from grade 1A is nearly one- 
third of the enrollment, from IB nearly one-fourth, and from each 
grade from 2A to 4A, inclusive, more than one-fifth. More than 
one-fifth of all the children who enroll in the elementary schools either 
drop out before the end of the term or fail of promotion. 



PERCENT Of NUMBER IN CLASS 

AT END Or TERM PER CENT OF TOTAL ENROLMENT 

E£Z2 ■ NOT PROMOTED SRADE EZZZ3 - DROPPED AND NOT PROMOTED 


E2E2Z 


f 




1 a a V/A 




'-■■ 


I 


1 


















W/X?A 






i ft R Y77s 


/'// 


A 




! 


1 
















V//^A 






! a a W/ 


/// 


\ 




) 


















WJ&A. 






1 R Pk X/// 


W 


'\ 




1 


















teZpL. 






i « A X'/t 


W( 


\ 




l 


















v/Aa, 






i r 3 r 177/ 


,-//, 


'A 




i 


















Y//A 






1 a a \//, 


ytf 


i 




i 


















W/A 






1 r A p y/A 


V\ 






! 


f 
















\jm 






\ a fl r/// 


MK 






~| 


t 11 , 














Y//A 






J R ^ R ^X> 


>/>\ 






i 


















wA ' 






1 a a fvV 


VA 
























\yA , 






i a r |xy> 


\/.\ 






1 


















W/XA 






U ? A ^// 


y/< 






1 


















v//\ 






8 R R ft^7> 


/\ 






! 


















U2A.. ' 






.'i r "\ a fr/// 


YA 






1 


I, . 1 ■ 
















ELI 






1 R R K<// 








1 


O 20 40 60 80 10O PERCENT 20 40 60 80 100 



Figure 24. — Of pupils who remain in class to the end of the term, the per cent not promoted is excessive 
except in 8B), ranging from 21. 6 per cent in 1A to 6.4 per cent in 8B. An encouraging feature is the gradual 
decrease in the rate of nonpromotion from 1 A to 6B. 

Including the pupils who drop out during the term with those who fail of promotion, more than one-fifth 
of the total enrollment of the elementary schools is eliminated. 

As shown in Table 34, 30.4 per cent of the pupils enrolled in grade 
1A either dropped out during the term or were not promoted; 23.4 
per cent of the enrollment in grade IB either dropped out or were not 
promoted; 20.9 per cent in grade 2A; and so on. At these rates, of 
1,000 pupils enrolled in grade 1A, only 696 would be found in grade 
IB, 533 in grade 2A, and 422 in grade 2B. 

For various reasons the enrollment in the first year of the elemen- 
tary school is usually considerably greater than the number of pupils 
entering the system annually. In order to show the rate of elimina- 
tion of children from the schools, therefore, it is fairer to use the 
enrollment of the second year as a base. 



48 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 35 and Figure 25 show the number of pupils remaining in 
each grade, for each 1,000 pupils entering grade 2A, on the basis of 
the per cent of the enrollment dropped and not promoted in 1915. 
Approximately three-fourths of the 1,000 children have disappeared 
by the time grade 5A is reached; only 6 per cent enter high school; 
and only 25 out of each 1,000 children are graduated from high school. 




Figure 25.— Number of pupils remaining in each grade for each 1,000 pupils who enter grade 2A, on basis 
of per cent of enrollment dropped and not promoted in 1915. 

It is true that not all of these pupils leave the school system per- 
manently without completing the high-school course, since investi- 
gation shows many pupils who are one or more years behind the 
grades in which they would normally be found. Nevertheless, the 
figures disclose a serious situation, calling for radical readjustment. 

Table 35. — Number of pupils remaining in each grade for each 1,000 pupils who enter 
grade 2A, on basis of per cent of enrollment dropped and not promoted in 1915. 



Grades. 


Number of 
pupils re- 
maining in 
each grade . 

1,000 
791 

620 

489 

387 

308 

253 
207 

170 
141 

118 
95 

80 
67 

60 
44 
32 
27 
25 


Per cent of 

enrollment 

dropped 

and not 

promoted. 


2A 


20.9 


2B 


21.6 


3A 


21.2 


3B 


20.9 


4A 


20.5 


4B 


17.7 


5A 


18 


5B 


17.9 


6A 


17.3 


6B 


16.6 


7A 


19.7 


7B 


16 


8A 


15.9 


8B 


10.5 


I 


27.2 


II : 


26.8 


Ill 


15.4 


iv : :.: 


8.2 











A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



49 



While Table 35 takes into account the pupils who dropped out 
during the term as well as those who failed of promotion at the end, 
Table 36 presents a study of promotion based on the per cent of pupils 



1.000 


2A 


854 


£B 


721 


3A 


613 


SB 


624 


4A 


451 


4B 


399 


5A 


353 


6B 


312 


6A 


276 


6B 


248 


7A 


210 


7B 


186 


8A 


167 


8B 


156 


I 


130 


II 


106 


III 


98 


IV 


94 



Figure 26.— Number of pupils promoted from each grade for each 1,000 pupils in grade 2A, on basis of 
per cent of pupils remaining in class at end of term who were promoted in 1915. 

remaining in class at the end of the term who are promoted, on the 
basis of the per cent promoted in 1915. 



See also Figure 26. 



Table 36. — Number of pupils promoted from each grade for each 1,000 pupils in grade 
2 A, on basis of per cent of pupils remaining in class at end of term who were promoted 
in 1915. 



Grades. 


Per cent of 
number in 
class at end 
of term 
who are 
promoted. 


Number 
promoted. 


2A 


85.4 
84.4 

85 
85.5 

86 
88.5 
88.4 
88.4 

891 

89.3 

81.8 
88.6 

89.6 
93.6 

83.4 
81.9 
92.2 
96.2 


1,000 
854 


2B 


721 


3A 


613 


3B 


524 


4A 


451 


4B 


399 


-5A 


353 


•5B 


312 


6A 


278 


■6B 


248 


7A 


210 


7B 


186 


8A 


167 


8B 


156 


J 


130 


II 


106 


Ill 


98 


IV 


94 







Of each 1,000 children promoted from grade IB to grade 2 A, 
less than one-half are promoted from grade 4A; less than one- 
fourth are promoted from grade 7A; and less than one-tenth are 
promoted from the third and fourth years of high school. 
93S15— 17 4 



50 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Some students of public-school administration have taken the 
position that 92 per cent represents a probable minimum normal 
rate of promotion, based on number of pupils remaining in class 
at the end of the term. 1 It will be observed that in December, 
1915, this rate of promotion was reached in only 3 of the 20 grades 
in the San Francisco schools — 8B, III, and IV (Table 34). 

At a uniform rate of promotion of 92 per cent, out of each 1,000 
pupils promoted from grade IB to grade 2 A, 223 pupils would be 
promoted from the fourth year of high school, which is more than 
two and one-third times (2.37) -the number reported for the San 
Francisco schools (94) in Table 36. 

Table 37 and Figure 27 compare the San Francisco schools with 
those of Los Angeles and Newark in respect to per cent of pupils 
promoted, and number of pupils promoted from each grade, for each 
1,000 pupils in grade 2A, on basis of per cent of pupils remaining in 
class at end of term who were promoted in 1915. The date of 
promotion reported for San Francisco is December 17, 1915, for Los 
Angeles and Newark, January 29, 1915. 

Table 37. — Per cent of pupils promoted, and number of pupils promoted from each 
grade, for each 1 ,000 pupils in grade 2 A , on basis of per cent of pupils remaining in 
class at end of terra who were -promoted in 1915: San Francisco schools compared vnih 
the schools of Los Angeles and Newark. 1 



Grades. 


Per cent of number in class 
at end of term who were 
promoted in 1915. 


Number promoted for each 
1,000 pupils in grade 2A. 




San Fran- 
cisco. 


Los 

Angeles. 


Newark. 


San Fran- 
cisco. 


Los 

Angeles. 


Newark. 


1A 


78.4 
84 

85.4 
84.4 

85 
85.5 

86 
88.5 

88.4 
88.4 

89.1 
89.3 

84.8 
88.6 

89.6 
93.6 


76.1 
91.6 

91.2 
92.7 

90.7 
93.1 

92.2 
92.5 

93.2 
94.6 

93.3 
95.4 

94.5 
94.6 

95.6 
98.9 


81.1 

86.1 

89.1 
88.3 

90.4 
89.2 

88.9 
92.2 

87.3 
89.7 

90.2 
91.1 

88.9 
91.6 

91.5 
95.3 








IB 


1,000 

854 
721 

613 
524 

451 
399 

353 
312 

278 
248 

210 

186 

167 
150 


1,000 

912 

845 

766 
713 

657 
608 

567 
533 

500 

477 

451 
427 

408 
395 


1,000 


2A 


891 


2B 


787 


3A 


711 


3B 


634 


4A 


554 


4B 


520 


5A 


454 


5B 


407 


6A 


337 


6B 


334 


7A 


297 


7B 


272 


8A 


249 


8B 


237 







1 Based on figures in reports of superintendents. 

For each 1,000 pupils in grade 2A, San Francisco promoted 156 
pupils from grade 8B, Newark promoted 237, and Los Angeles, 395. 
In this comparison the school system of Newark is 51.9 per cent 

i For example, see Report of a Survey of the School System of Butte, Mont., June 2, 1914, p. 28. 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



51 



more efficient than that of San Francisco, and the achievement of the 
Los Angeles schools is more than two and one-half times as great 
as that of the San Francisco schools. The conditions in the San 
FraD cisco schools are explainable in part by the large numbers of 



San Prsnoiaoo 



1.000 
854 
721 
613 
624 
451 
599 
35-3 
312 
278 
248 
210 
186 
167 
156 



Los Angeles 



1,000 
912 
845 
766 
713 
657 
608 
567 
636 
500 
477 
451 
427 
408 
395 



Hewark 



1,000 
891 
787 
711 
634 
564 
520 
464 
407 
367 
334 
297 
272 
249 
237 































r "™ 


























■"■"" 



















™ 








■ ■ 





es 






















































































































■™~": 























































































Figure 27. — Number of pupils promoted from each grade for each 1,000 pupils in grade 2A on the basis 
of per cent promoted in 1915. Newark carries 51.9 per cent more pupils through the eighth year than San 
Francisco, and Los Angeles more than two and one-half times as many. 

pupiis who drag behind their fellows and take two or more years 
to do the work of one. In these figures are found one reason for the 
act, discussed elsewhere in this report, that although San Francisco 
spends much less than other cities for her public schools, her schools 
cost somewhat more per pupil enrolled. 



52 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



FAILURES BY SUBJECTS. 

Further light is thrown upon the problem of nonpromotion by an 
.examination of Table 38, which shows the number of pupils failing 
in each subject in the elementary schools for the term ended Decem- 
ber 17, 1915. A summary by subjects, for all grades, is presented in 
"Table 39 and Figure 28. 

Table 38. — Enrollment and number of failures reported, by grades and subjects, 
elementary schools, for the term ended Dec. 17, 1915. 





Number of pupils failing in specified subjects. 




Grades. 


1 

'C 
< 


o 

! 


1 

o 


1 

o 
® 


jo 
o 

>> 

ft 


O 

1 


1 


to 

a 

1 


3 


•i 

ca 
u 

-5? 

3 

§ 


bib 
9 

GO 


i 






Tot 


al. 

1 

ft 


En- 
roll- 
ment. 


1A 


107 
47 

436 
458 

590 
535 

576 
431 

534 
509 

430 
421 

458 
365 

293 
311 


529 
244 

307 
186 

345 

288 

292 
250 

321 
355 

259 
279 

372 
328 

250 
249 


7 








62 
24 

84 
87 

130 
105 

142 
120 

137 
146 

109 
83 

85 
80 

75 
38 


47 
13 

51 
47 

80 
45 

81 
52 

80 
116 

50 
46 

35 

38 

41 
21 


26 
13 

24 

8 

22 

4 

21 

16 

17 
52 

18 
31 

25 
20 

16 
13 


21 

5 

9 
2 






799 
346 

1,252 
1,077 

1,602 
1,299 

1,571 
1,263 

1,624 
1,721 

1,371 
1,420 

1,750 
1,375 

1,146 

866 


3.9 
1.7 

6.1 
5.2 

7.8 
6.3 

7.7 
6.2 

7.9 
8.4 

6.7 
6.9 

8.6 
6.7 

5.6 
4.2 


5,043 


IB .. 








1 


3,712 


2A 


341 

289 

304 
253 

232 

194 

218 
185 

146 
130 

142 

77 

99 
55 








I 


4,048 
3,535 

3,867 


2B 








1 


3A 


131 

67 

220 
195 

295 
311 

240 
235 

273 

166 

169 
91 










3B 


2 

"2 

16 
25 

48 
20 

14 

4 


2 
5 

22 
38 








2,940 


4A 




3 




3,345 


4B 


2,823 
3,141 


5A 








5B 


5 

"2 

10 
10 

17 
10 


2 
2 





2, 517 


6A 


101 
168 

301 
257 

163 

65 


2,731 


6B 


2,208 

2,375 
1,880 


7A 


"5" 

7 


1 
9 

2 
9 


7B 


8A 


1,744 
1,545 


8B 






Total 


6,501 


4,854 


2,672 


2,393 


133 


1,122 


1,507 


843 


326 


91 


19 


21 


20,482 


100.0 


47,454 


Percent 


31.6 


24.6 


13.0 


11.6 


.6 


5.4 


7.3 


,1 


L. 


.4 


.1 


.1 


100.0 













Table 39.- 



-Number and per cent of failures, by subjects, elementary schools, for the term 
ended Dec. 17, 1915. 



Subjects. 



Per cent. 



Sewing 

Cooking 

Mu ual training 

Physiology 

Music... 

Drawing 

United States history 
Writing 

Geography 

Spelling 

Language 

Arithmetic 

Total 




The first fact to be observed in connection with these tables is the 
wide variation in the number of failures in the different branches of 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 53 

the course of study. The failures are not distributed evenly, but 
range from 19 in sewing and 21 in cooking to 4,854 in language and 
6,501 in arithmetic. These extreme variations are due partly to the 
fact that not all subjects are taught in every grade. 

It will be noted, however, that at least six subjects are taught in 
every grade and that there are wide variations in the number of 
failures reported in these. The six subjects are arithmetic, language, 
spelling, writing, drawing, music. Two of these subjects, arithmetic 
and language, are responsible for more than half of all the failures in 
the elementary schools, 56.2 per cent. The single subject of spelling 
causes nearly as many failures (2,672) as writing, drawing, and music,, 
combined (2,676). It is clear, therefore, that even in the case of 
studies taught in all grades the requirements are very unequal.. 

It is not contended that all studies in the elementary school should 
be considered as of precisely equal importance, or that they should 



Sewing 19 » 
Cooking 21 » 
Man training 91 • 
Physiology 133 «» 
Music 326 «b 
Drawing 843 «■ 
History '1,122 « 
Writing 1,507 — 
Geography 2,393 « 
Spelling 2,672 « 
Language 4,854 ■* 
Arithmetic 6,501 «- 



Figure 28.— Failure by subjects in elementary schools. Arithmetic and language cause more failures 
than the remaining 10 subjects combined. 

count equally in determining the advancement of children from grade 
to grade. In fact, in the case of music, for example, from the point 
of view outlined elsewhere in this report, 1 it is not clear that a 
"failure" in music is necessarily of great significance as affecting a 
pupil's promotion. Nevertheless, these reports raise the very prac- 
tical question as to the wisdom of permitting the requirements of 
any two or three subjects (of a total of 12) to cause such a dispro- 
portionate number of failures. 

The facts in Table 38 should receive further careful study in con- 
nection with the discussion of the achievements of pupils in Chapter 
VII. Obviously, some readjustment is necessary. Either the re- 
quirements of the various subjects should be modified, in order to 
bring all more nearly in accord with the capacities of children, or 
the methods of instruction should be adjusted to meet more success- 
fully the special difficulties disclosed. 



i See Ch. X. 



54 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



FAILURES BY GRADES. 



Table 40 and Figure 29 present a summary of theldistribution of 
enrollment and of failures, by grades. 

Table 40. — Per cent distribution of enrollment and failures, elementary schools, for the 

term ended Dec. 17, 1915. 



Grades. 



1A 

IB 

2A 

2B 

3A 

3B 

4A 

4B 

«A 

5B 

6A 

6B 

7A 

7B 

8A 

8B 

Total 



Enroll- 
ment. 


Failures. 


10.6 

7.8 


3.9 
1.7 


8.5 
7.4 


6.1 
5.2 


8.2 
6.2 


7.8 
6.3 


7.1 
5.9 


7.7 
6.2 


6.6 
5.3 


7.9 

8.4 


5.8 
4.6 


6.7 
6.9 


5 
3.9 


8.6 
6.7 


3.7 
3.2 


5.6 
4.2 


100 


100 



Grades. 



Enroll- 
ment. 



Total . 



1,2,3. 
4,5,6. 

7,8... 



Total . 



18.4 
16.9 
14.4 

13 

11.9 

10.4 

8.9 
6.9 



100 



49.7 
35.3 
15.8 



100 



Failures. 



5.6 
11.3 
14.1 

13.9 
16.3 
13.6 

15.3 



100 



31 

'43.8 
25.1 



100 



If the demands of school activities were accurately adjusted to the 
capacities of children, the work of the fifth grade would be no more 
and no less difficult for children of normal fifth-grade attainments 
than the work of the first grade is for children of normal first-grade 



PER CEKT DISTRIBUTION OP EHR01MEBT AED FAILURES 
Enrolment Grade Failures 



18.4 
16.9 
14.4 

13.0 
11.9 
10.4 



6.6 
11. S 
14.1 

IS, 9 
16.3 
13.6 



Figure 29.— Instead of being adjusted at all stages to the capacities of children, the requirements of the 
various branches of study become progressively difficult through the grades. With a rapidly diminishing 
enrollment, the number of failures does not decrease in proportion. Note that the seventh grade, with only 
8.9 per cent of the total enrollment, reports 15.3 per cent of all the failures. 

attainments. The figures presented indicate clearly that this adjust- 
ment is far from being realized. 

Whereas the first grade contains 18.4 per cent of the total enroll- 
ment, it reports but 5.6 per cent of the total number of failures in 
individual subjects; the fourth grade, with 13 per cent of the total 
enrollment, reports 13.9 per cent of the failures; while the seventh 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



55 



grade, with 8.9 per cent of the total enrollment, reports 15.3 per cent 
of the failures. 

Again, grades 1, 2, and 3, with approximately one-half the total 
enrollment, 49.7 per cent, report less than one-third of the total 
number of failures, 31 per cent; grades 4, 5, and 6, with about one- 
third of the total enrollment, 35.3 per cent, report a little less than 
one-half of the failures, 43.8 per cent; grades 7 and 8, with a little 
more than one-eighth of the total enrollment, 15.8 per cent, report 
one-fourth of the failures, 25.1 per cent. 

The fact that failures by individual subjects or studies are very 
unequally distributed through the grades is made clear by Table 41 
and Figure 30. An index of failures by grades is obtained by dividing 
the per cent of the total number of failures by pupils in each grade by 
the per cent of the total enrollment found in that grade. 

Table 41. — Index of failures: Ratio of per cent of enrollment to per cent of failures by 

subjects and by grades. 



Grades. 


Per cent of 
total en- 
rollment 
in grade. 


Per cent of 
total num- 
ber of fail- 
ures, by- 
subjects. 


Ratio of 
per cent of 
enrollment 
to per cent 
of failures. 


1A 


' 10.6 

7.8 

8.5 
7.4 

8.2 
6.2 

7.1 

5.9 

6.6 
5.3 

5.8 
4.6 

5 
3.9 

3.7 
3.2 


3.9 
1.7 

6.1 
5.2 

7.8 
6.3 

7.7 
6.2 

7.9 
8.4 

6.7 
6.9 

8.6 
6.7 

5.6 
4.2 


368 


IB 


.218 


2A 


.718 


2B 


.703 


3A 


.951 


3B 


1.016 


4A 


1.085 


4B 


1 051 


5A. 


1.197 


5B 


1 585 


6A 


1.155 


6B 


1.500 


7A 


1.720 


7B 


1.718 


8A 


1.514 


8B 


1.313 






Total 


100 


100 








1 


18.4 
16.9 
14.4 

13 

11.9 

10.4 

8.9 
6.9 


5.6 
11 3 
14.1 

13.9 
16.3 
13.6 

15.3 

9.8 


.304 


2 


.669 


3 


.979 


4 


1.069 


5 


1.370 


6 


1.308 


7 


1.719 


8 


1.420 






Total 


100 


100 








1,2,3 


49.7 
35.3 
15.8 


31 

43.8 

25.1 


.624 


4, 5, 6 


1.241 


7,8 


1.589 






Total 


100 


100 









If any grade, for example, having 8 per cent of the enrollment, 
reported also 8 per cent of the failures, it could be said to have pre- 
cisely its proportionate share of the failures. In such a case, the 



56 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

quotient obtained by dividing the per cent of failures by the per 
cent of enrollment is 1. If a grade reports less than its share of 
failuros, the quotient is less than 1, and if it reports more than its 
share of failures, the quotient is more than 1. 

Referring to Figure 30, therefore, the heavy line represents the 
quotient obtained when per cent of failures and per cent of enrollment 
are the same. The grades which are represented by lines above and 



IB .£18 

1A .366 

2B .703 

2A .718 

SA .951 

1.000 

SB 1.016 
4B 1.051 
4A 1.065 
6 A 1.155 
6A 1.197 
8B 1.313 
6B 1.500 
8 A 1.614 
5B 1.685 
7B 1.718 
7A 1.720 



1 .304 

£ .669 

3 .979 

1.000 

4 1.069 
6 1.308 

6 1.370 
8 1.4£0 

7 1.719 



1,2,3 .624 

1.000 

4,6,6 1.241 
7,8 1.689 



Figure 30.— Index of failuros. An index of failures is obtained by dividing the per cent of the total 
number of failures by pupils in each grade by the per cent of the total enrollment found in that grade. 
The beavy line represents the quotient obtained when per cent of failures and per cent of enrollment are 
the same; that is. when a grade has precisely its proportionate share of failures. Grades represented by 
lines above and shorter than the heavy line report less than their share of failures, and grades represented 
by linos below and longer than the heavy line report more than their share of failures. The first section 
of the graph shows the ranking by separate grades, the second section by years, and the third section by 
groups of years combined. 

shorter than this line report less than their proportionate share of 
failures, and those which are represented by lines below and longer 
than this line report more than their share of failures. 

The first section of Figure 30 shows that of the 16 grades, -11 report 
per cents of failures in excess of corresponding per cents of the total 
enrollment. It also shows that grade 6 A reports a smaller propor- 
tion of failuros than 6B; 5A ranks much higher than 5B; 8B ranks 
higher than 8A. A sharp break in the curve is observable between 
grades 2A and 3A. 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



57 



The second section of Figure 30 emphasizes the fact, discussed 
elsewhere in this report, that pupils encounter unusual difficulties in 
the seventh year. It also shows that the proportion of failures 
reported increases rapidly after the fourth year. The third section 
shows the relative standings of the primary grades combined, inter- 
mediate grades, and grammar grades. 

Another view of the problem of elimination and the holding power 
of the schools is afforded by Table 42 and Figure 31. 

Table 42. — Enrollment for the term ended Dec. 17, 1915, compared with the actual attend- 
ance reported oh Feb. 24, 1916, in elementary schools. 





Enroll- 
ment 

for the 
term 
ended 

Dec. 17, 
1915. 


Actual attendance reported on 
Feb. 24, 1916. 


Percent of 
December, 
1915. enroll- 


Grades. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


ment in 

preceding 

prade in 

attendance 

in each 

grade on 

Feb. 24, 

191(5. 


1A 


5,043 
3,712 

4,04* 
3, 535 

3,867 
2,940 

3,345 

2,823 

3,141 
2,517 

2,731 

2,208 

2,375 

1,880 

1,744 
1,545 


1,735 

1,840 

1,604 
1,694 

1,575 
1,549 

1,693 
1,174 

1,374 
1,240 

1,128 
1,034 

923 

978 

777 
691 


1,547 
1,621 

1,393 
1,636 

1,543 

1,425 

1,360 
1,217 

1,263 
1,220 

1,095 
1,115 

956 
1,051 

838 
854 


3,282 




IB 


3,461 

2,997 
3,330 


68.8 


2A 


80.9 


2B 


82.4 


3A 


3,118 88. » 


3B 


2,974 

3,053 
2,391 
2,637 
2,460 

2,223 
2,149 

1,879 
2,029 

1,615 
1,545 


77 


4A 


103.8 


4B 


71.5 


5A 


93.2 


5B 


78.4 


6A 


88.5 


6B 


79 


7A.„. 


84.9 


7B 


85.6 


8A 


85.9 


8B 


88.5 






Total . 


47,454 


21,009 


20, 134 


41,143 


i 82.5 







i The enrollment for the term ended Dec. 17, 1915, exclusive of 8B was 45,909; the attendance on Feh. 24 , 
1916, exclusive of 1A was 37,861; 37,861 is 82.5 per cent of 45,909. 

The actual attendance on any given day may be expected to vary 
considerably from enrollment figures. Nevertheless, the comparison 
is of value in showing the relative holding power of the various 
grades. So far as the promotions that took place at the middle of 
the school year in 1915-16 are concerned, it appears that two grades, 
IB and 4B, held much smaller proportions of the enrollment of pre- 
ceding grades than the system as a whole, while grade 5A held con- 
siderably more, and grade 4A evidently retained more than the usual 
proportion of its own enrollment of the previous term, as well as that 
of the preceding grade. 



58 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 43 presents the figures for enrollment, elimination, promo- 
tion, and nonpromotion for the five high schools for the half year 
ended December 17, 1915. Of 4,252 pupils reported, 29 left during 
the term to go to private or parochial schools, 99 left the city, 323 
had been absent at the end of the term more than three whole days 
consecutively. Of the 3,801 remaining in class at the end of the term, 
545 failed of promotion. More than half of those who dropped out 



1A 
IB 


ik'.'d 


43 
33 


71.5 
77.0 


63 
6B 


78.4 
79.0 


£A 
£3 


80.9 
82.4 


AL 


82.5 


7A 

73 


84.9 

85.6 


8A 
5A 


85.9 
88.3 


6A 
8B 


88.5 
88.5 


6A 
4A 


93.2 
103.8 




















































































































































Figure 31. — Per cent of the December, 1915, enrollment in preceding grade in attendance in each grade 
on Feb. 24, 1916. Grades IB and 4B held much smaller proportions of the enrollment of preceding grades 
than the system as a whole, while grade 5 A held considerably more, and grade 4 A evidently retained more 
than the usual proportion of its own enrollment of the previous term, as well as that of the preceding grade. 

during the term and more than half of those who were not promoted 
were first-year pupils. 

Table 43. — Enrollment, elimination, promotion, and nonpromotion, San Francisco 
high schools, by years, for the term August-December, 1915. 



Year in high school. 



4 

Special. 



Total. 



Total 
enroll- 
ment 
for 
term. 



2,007 

1,201 

585 

440 

19 

4,252 



Number dropned during term and 
not returning because of— 



Going to 
private 

or paro- 
chial 
school. 



29 



Left 
the 
city. 



99 



Absent 
more 
than 3 
whole 
days. 



Total 
dropped 
and not 
return- 
ing. 



180 

98 

38 

5 

2 

323 



254 
127 
48 



451 



Num- 
ber in 
class at 
end of 
term. 



1,753 

1,074 

537 

420 

17 

3,801 



Number in class 
at end of term. 



Pro- 
moted. 



1,461 

879 

495 

404 

17 

3,256 



Not 
pro- 
moted. 



292 

195 

42 

16 



545 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



59 



Table 44. — Per emit of elimination and nonpromotion, San Francisco high schools, by 
years, for the term August-December, 1915. 



Year in high school. 


Percent of 
total en- 
rollment 
dropped 
during 
the term. 


Per cent of 
number 
in class 
at end of 
term not 
promoted. 


Percent of 
total en- 
rollment 
dropped 
and not 
promoted. 


1 


12.B 

10.5 

8.2 

4.5 

10.5 


16.6 

18.1 
7.8 
3.8 


27.2 


2 


26.8 


3 


15.4 


4... 


8.2 




10.5 








Total 


10.6 


14.3 


23.4 







Table 44 shows the per cent of elimination and nonpromotion. 
Nearly one-fourth of all high-school pupils, 23.4 per cent, either 
dropped out during the term or failed of promotion at the end of the 
term. The proportions are especially heavy in the first and second 
years — 27.2 and 26.8 per cent, respectively. 

SIZE OF SECTIONS, AND FAILURES, BY SUBJECTS. 

Table 45 shows the number of sections in the five high schools hav- 
ing specified number of pupils enrolled, average number of pupils per 
section, and number of failures, by groups of subjects. 



60 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



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A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



61 



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62 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSlEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

This table necessarily contains many duplications, since the average 
number of subjects taken by each pupil is 5.9. The number of sec- 
tions having fewer than 16 pupils is small — only 7.7 per cent of the 
total. On the other hand, 390 sections, or 48.2 per cent, report 
enrollment of 31 pupils or more, and 194 sections, or nearly one- 
fourth of the entire number of sections (23.9 per cent), report enroll- 
ment of more than 40 pupils each. 

Only three groups of subjects average fewer than 25 pupils per 
section — home economics, mechanical drawing, and shopwork. Four 
groups of subjects average 34 or more pupils per section — commercial 
subjects, English and composition, history, and mathematics. The 
average for the " miscellaneous " group, 61.4, is accounted for by two 
large sections of first-year pupils in educational guidance. 

As shown in the last two columns of Table 45, a great variety of 
conditions prevails in respect to the number and per cent of failures 
reported. Five sections of third and fourth year home economics,. 



Miscellaneous 


1.1 


Home economios 


2.4 


Shopwork 


S.O 


Art & drawing 


3.6 


Scienoe 


9.0 


Meoh drawing 


9.4 


English & oomp 


10.3 


HiBtory 


10.5 


AVERAGE 


10.9 


Modern lang 


1£.4 


Ancient lang 


IB. 7 


Mathematics 


16.3 


Commercial 


17.0 



Figure 32. — Per cent of total enrollment failing, by subjects. With respect to per cent of failures, the 
subjects fall into three well-defined divisions: (1) Four groups in which the failures range from 1.1 to 3.5 
per cent; (2) six groups fn which the failures range from 9 to 12.7 per cent; (3) two groups in which the 
failures range from 15.3 to 17 per cent. Apparently pupils find it more than seven times as difficult to 
satisfy the demands of the courses in commercial subjects as in home economics and nearly six times as 
difficult as in shopwork courses. 

seven sections of modern foreign languages, and eight sections of 
third and fourth year shopwork, with a total of 515 pupils, report 
no failures. At the other extreme will be noted 59 sections of first- 
year commercial subjects, having a total of 2,267 pupils, which 
report 433 failures, or 19.1 per cent of the enrollment. 

With respect to per cent of failures, as shown in Figure 32, the 
subjects fall into three well-defined divisions: (1) Four groups in 
which the failures range from 1.1 to 3.5 per cent — miscellaneous, 
home economics, shopwork, art and drawing; (2) six groups in which 
the failures range from 9 to 12.7 per cent— science, mechanical draw- 
ing, English and composition, history, modern language, ancient lan- 
guage; (3) two groups in which the failures range from 15.3 to 17 
per cent. 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OV THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



63 



Apparently pupils find it more than seven times as difficult to 
satisfy the demands of the courses in commercial subjects as in 
home economics and nearly six times as difficult as in shopwork 
courses. 

Table 46 and, Figure 33 summarize the enrollment and failures 
reported, by years, of the high-school course. Although more than 
half of all the failures occur in the first year, the per cent of failures 
in the second year, 12.6 per cent, is higher than that in the first 
year, 11.6 per cent. 

Table 46. — Summary of enrollment in classes, by years, and failures, in San Francisco 
high schools, August- December, 1915. 



Year in high school. 


Enroll- 
ment. 


Failures. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


1 


13,243 

7,277 

3,019 

1,670 

213 


1,539 

916 

250 

81 


11. ft 


2 


12.6 


3 


8.3 


4 


4.9 


Unclassified 










Total 


25, 422 2. 786 


10. & 






' 





1st Year 11.6 
Ed Tear 1£.6 
3d Year 8.3 
4th Year 4.9 

ATEBAGB 10.9 



Figure 33.— Per cent of total enrollment failing, by years. The per cent of failures is much higher in 
the first and second years of high school than in the third and fourth. 



INSTRUCTION OF SPECIAL GROUPS OF CHILDREN. 

Principals and teachers in the elementary and high schools were 
requested to prepare statements showing the following facts: 

(1) Number of deaf children enrolled in school, i. e., children so 
deaf as to require special attention or instruction. 

(2) Number of deaf children not attending school, in the families 
of children enrolled in school. 

(3) Number of blind children enrolled in the schools. 

(4) Number of blind children not attending school, in the families 
of children enrolled in school. 

(5) Number of crippled children enrolled in the schools. 

(6) Number of crippled children not attending school, in the fam- 
ilies of children enrolled in school. 

A summary of these reports is presented in Table 47. 



64 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Table 47. — Special groups of children. 





Number 

of 
children. 


Number 
of schools 
reporting. 


Deaf children in school 


139 
24 
13 
13 

297 
92 


24 


Deaf children in homes 


17 


Blind children in schools 


9 




13 


Crippled children in school 


68 




49 






Total deaf children reported 


63 

26 

389 




Total blind children reported 




Total crippled children reported 










478 


74 







1 Exclusive of 30 deaf children enrolled in the Oral School for the Deaf. 

The large numbers of children in these groups and the large num- 
ber of schools involved call for special expert attention to a degree 
not now afforded in the organization of the San Francisco schools. 
Further discussion of this topic occurs elsewhere. 

The survey commission had no facilities for a detailed study of 
the problem of mental deviates. This work requires special tech- 
nical knowledge and experience and laboratory and clinical equip- 
ment. Such observations as were possible indicated clearly the 
need of special provision for such study, as recommended elsewhere 
in this report. 

THE TEACHING STAFF. 

Of 1,104 teachers and principals in elementary schools reporting, 
exclusive of special teachers (manual training, etc.), only 17 are 
men, 1.5 per cent. Of 137 high-school teachers and principals 
reporting, 61 are men, 44.5 per cent. 

EXPERIENCE. 

The teachers and principals were asked to report on the number 
■of years of experience in teaching or supervising, or both, prior to 
July 15, 1915. A summary of these reports, by schools, is presented 
in Table 48 and Figure 34. 

The average number of years' experience for all teachers and prin- 
cipals is 16.6 for high schools and 18.2 for elementary schools. 

There are 25 elementary schools in which the average number of 
years of experience of principals and teachers is 20 or more and 8 
schools in which the average is 25 years or more. 

There are only four elementary schools in which the average 
number of years of experience of principals and teachers is less 
than 10 years and only 18 schools in which the average is less than 
15 years. 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



65 



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THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FEANCISCO. 



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A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



67 



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68 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Of 136 high-school teachers reporting, only 13 had had less than 
five years' experience; 28 had had from 20 to 30 years; and 17 had 
had 30 years or more. The median number of years of experience 
for the entire group is between 10 and 14. 



DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS 
BY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE 






YEARS O 

OF TO 

EXPER 4- 



5 10 15 20 25 30 35 4-0 45 60 
TO TO TO TO TO TO TO TO TO TO 
9 14- 19 24- 29 34- 39 44 49 54- 



Figure 34.— Of 1,218 elementary and high-school teachers and principals, only 193 began teaching during 
the 5 years prior to July 15, 1915 — an average of 38.6 teachers per year, or only 3. 1 per cent of the staff. Note 
that 507, or 41.6 per cent, have taught 20 years or more; and of these, 236 have taught 30 years or more. 

Of 1,082 elementary-school teachers reporting, only 180 had had 
less than five years' experience; 243 had had from 20 to 30 years; 
and 219 had had 30 years or more. 

Of the entire number, 1,218 elementary and high-school teachers 
and principals, only 193 began teaching during the five years prior 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



69 



to July 15, 1915 — an average of 38.6 teachers per year, or 3.1 per 
cent of the staff. If this rate of addition of new blood were to con- 
tinue, it would mean that in a very short time the San Francsico 
schools would be presided over by a staff of teachers and principals, 
most of whom have had 30 years or more of teaching experience; 
that is, the children would be taught by teachers who had secured 
their own schooling for the most part a full generation before the 
period represented by that in which the children are living. 

That this figure is not far from the actual net annual addition of 
new teachers is disclosed by Table 49, which is taken from the report 
of the superintendent of schools for the year 1915-16. 

Table 49. — Number of teachers leaving the system, andnevj appointments, San Francisco, 

1911-12 to 1915-16. 



Number of teachers leaving the 
system. 
Years. 


Total 
new ap- 
point- 
ments. 1 


Net in- 


1 i 
[Resisted. 1 Died. Dropped. 


Total. 




1911-12 ! 33 1 9 10 

1912-13 1 38 I 9i 4 

1913-14 ! 38 I 14 ; 7 

1914-15 38 i 4 4 

1915-16 41 | 13 2 


52 
51 
59 
46 
56 


116 

86 
83 
107 
105 


64 
35 
24 
61 
49 


Total in 5 years 188 49 27 


264 497 


233 


Average in 5 years 37. 6 


9.8 .5.4 j 52. S ' 99.4 

t i 


46.6 



1 Includes day and evening, high and elementary schools. 

The number of new appointments annually for the past five years 
is only 99.4, or 7.4 per cent of the 1915 staff of 1,333 ; the net increase 
annually is only 46.6, or 3.5 per cent of the staff. 



EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION. 

The facts concerning the amount and kind of education reported 
by principals and teachers are summarized in Table 50. 

Of 138 high-school teachers reporting, 70, or 50.7 per cent, have 
had less than four years of high-school study. Only 4,0 report 
attendance at normal schools. Notwithstanding the small number 
who are high-school graduates, 120, or 90.6 per cent, report some 
college or university work — the great majority four years or more. 

Of 1,163 elementary-school teachers reporting, 15 have had no 
schooling above elementary-school; 620, or 53.3 per cent, have had 
less than four years of high-school study; 865, or 74.4 per cent, have 
had some normal school preparation (437 have had two years or 
more); 213, or 18.3 per cent, have attended college or universities 
(100 have attended four years or more). 

The professional preparation of special teachers is discussed in the 
chapters dealing with the special subjects. 



70 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 






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72 



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A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



73 



In Table 50 many teachers are counted more than once. In Table 
51, however, duplications are eliminated. From this table it appears 
that, of 1,333 teachers reporting, 111 have had no schooling beyond 
high school; of the remainder, 338 have had no other schooling 
except one year or less of normal school; 9 have had only one year or 
less of college or university; 12 have had only one year or less of 
other schooling (business college, etc.). 

Table 51. — Number of teachers having only minimum amounts of professional prepara- 
tion. 



Preparation reported. 



None beyond elementary school 

None beyond high school 

None beyond high school, except 1 year or less of normal 

school 

None beyond high school, except 1 year or less of college 

or university 

None beyond high school except 1 year or less of other 

school (business college, etc.) 

Total number of teachers in classes enumerated 

above 

Total number of teachers reporting 



Number of teachers who have had only speci- 
fied amounts of preparation. 



Elemen- I High- 
tary-school school 
teachers. teachers. 



15 

108 



337 



474 
1,163 



10 
13S 



Special [ T f , 
teachers. ! xoiai - 



17 

111 



338 



«7 

1. 3ob 



SALARIES. 



rhe^dis tribution of salaries of teachers and principals, compiled 
from the latest report of the board of education available (school 
year 1914-15), is shown in Table 52. 



Table|52. — Number of elementary and high-school teachers and principals receiving 
specified salaries in 1914-15. 



Annual salary. 


High schools. 


Elementary schools. 


Total. 


Principals. 

1 
1 
3 


Teachers. 


Principals. 


Teachers. 


$3 , 600 








, 


3.300 








1 


3, 000 








3 


2,460 




6 
14 

2 
16 




6 


2,340 








14 


2,240 








2 


2,160 




4 
24 




20 


2,040 






24 


1,800 




22 
2 
1 

10 




22 


1,680 




52 

14 


1 
21 


55 


1,620 


; 


36 


1,560 





10 


1,500 




24 


8 
2 


32 


1,464 






2 


1,440 






1 


1 


1,404 




1 

1 


4 


5 


1,380 






1 


1,360 




1 


2 

6 

2 

1 

12 

13 

287 


3 


1,344 






6 


1,320 • 






7 


9 


1,300 






1 


1,284 








12 


1,260 








13 


1,224 








287 



74 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 52. — Number of elementary and high-school teachers and principals receiving 
specified salaries in 1914-15 — Continued. 



Annual salary. r 


High schools. 


Elementary schools. 


Total. 


Principals. 


Teachers. 


Principals. 


Teachers. 


$1,200 




6 




107 

217 

5 

5 

5 

6 

24 

18 

15 

18 

30 

1 

1 

11 

1 

42 

13 

19 

135 


113 


1,164 






217 


1,152 








5 


1,140 






1 


6 


1,104 






5 


1,092 








6 


1,080 








24 


1,056 








18 


1,032 








15 


1,020 








18 


1,008 








30 


1,004 








1 


986 








1 


984 








11 


966 








1 


960 








42 


924 








13 


900 








19 


840 




1 
1 




136 


750 


















Total 


5 


128 


83 


1,032 


1,248 





Of the 128 high-school teachers reported, 114, or 89 per cent, 
received salaries of $1,500 to $2,040. 

Of the 83 elementary-school principals reported, 60, or 72.2 per 
cent, received salaries of $1,800 or over; only 10 received salaries of 
less than $1,560. 

Of the 1,032 elementary-school teachers reported, 611, or 59.2 per 
cent, received salaries of $1,164 to $1,224; 209, or 20.2 per cent, 
received salaries of $960 or less; 30, or 2.8 per cent, received salaries 
of $1,500 or over. 

The median salary for high-school teachers was $1,680; the median 
salary for elementary-school principals was $1,800; the median salary 
for the 1,248 teachers and principals reported was $1,200. 

The average salary of elementary-school teachers in San Francisco 
increased from $926 in 1903-4 to $1,124 in 1912-13, an increase of 
21 per cent. Table 53 shows the corresponding facts for six other 
cities of the same population class. 1 

Table 53. — Increases in average salaries of elementary-school teachers between 1903-4 

and 1912-13, in 7 cities. 



Cities. 


Average 

salary in 

1903-4. 


Average 
salary in 
1912-13. 


Per cent of 
increase. 


San Francisco 


$926 
726 
699 
711 
632 
637 
479 


$1, 124 
949 
937 
917 
876 
798 
655 


21 




31 




34 




29 




39 




25 




37 







Bu. of Educ. Bui., 1915, No. 31, p. 110. 



A STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



75 



In 1912-13 elementary-school teachers in San Francisco were paid 
good salaries in comparison with teachers 7 salaries in other cities. 

Comparing the earnings of teachers with earnings in other occu- 
pations, however, the value and importance of the service rendered 
do not appear to be reflected in salaries. Table 54 shows for six 
cities the average yearly salaries of elementary-school teachers com- 
pared with earnings of workmen in building trades in 1913. Actual 
earnings of workmen are compared with annual salaries of teachers, 
which are subject to reduction for sickness, absence, and other causes. 
"Few cities pay teachers as much as they do the workers who build 
the schoolhouses in which the teachers carry on their duties." 1 

Table 54. — Average annual salaries of elementary-school teachers compared with annual 
earnings of workmen in building trades, in 6 cities, 19 IS. 2 



San Fran- 


Denver. 


Balti- 


Minne- 


Cleve- 


cisco. 


more. 


apolis. 


land. 


$1,540 


$1,054 


$1,101 


$1,044 


$1,219 


1,390 


1,053 


1,057 


1,197 


1,192 


1,309 


1,082 


1, 101 


1,201 


1,132 


1, 120 


9<i7 


941 


927 


945 


1,124 


092 


692 


937 


791 


1,081 


779 


707 


921 


1,003 


904 


900 


90* 


1,030 


992 


944 


1,023 


824 


958 


875 



Seattle. 



Plumbers.. 
Bricklayers 
Plasterers.. 

Molders 

Teachers... 
Painters... 
Carpenters . 
Machinists. 



$1,017 
1,174 
1,259 



1,021 
975 
948 



i Bu. of Edu. Bui., 1915, No. 31, p. 14. 

* Salaries for workmen are actual earnings. (Bureau of Railway Economics: "Earnings and cost of 
living of skilled workmen in the East and in the West"; Washington, D. C, 1914, Exhibit No. 39.) 



Chapter III. 

ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 



The city of San Francisco and the county of San Francisco are 
coterminous. The same persons constitute the population of both. 
Under the school code of the State of California, San Francisco is a 
city and county school district and is organized as such. 

As citizens of the county the qualified voters of the district, as 
provided by the constitution of the State, elect quadrennially a 
superintendent of schools, who, under the State school code, appoints 
such deputy superintendents of schools as may be authorized under 
the law. Under the provision of the charter of the city and county 
of San Francisco the county superintendent of schools elected by the 
people, and the deputy superintendents appointed by the superin- 
tendent, become the superintendent and deputy superintendents of 
schools of the city. The charter of the city and county of San 
Francisco places the schools of the district under the control and 
management of a board of education of five members y four members 
appointed by the mayor of the city and county, and the county 
superintendent of schools, who, by virtue of his office as county 
superintendent, is a member of the city board on equal footing with 
the appointive members. 

Out of the complications, uncertainties, and lack of proper sub- 
ordinations of this dual organization and control come, directly or 
indirectly, many — perhaps most — of such evils as may exist in the 
public-school system of San Francisco. These evils can not be 
eradicated, and there is scant probability that they will be per- 
manently lessened to any considerable degree until the dual organiza- 
tion and control has been abolished by amendment to the State 
constitution and the city charter. 

INTERNAL ORGANIZATION OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

The internal organization of the board is not. unlike that of boards 
of education in other cities. It has a president, a vice president, and 
a secretary; the treasurer of the city and county of San Francisco 
and the proper accounting and auditing officials of the city and county 
and the city and county attorney are in effect, by implication of the 
charter, ex officio officers of the board. The internal organization 
consists not only of the above-named group of officers, but also of 
76 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. ' 77 

certain standing committees appointed by the president, such as 
committee on schools, committee on supplies, committee on finance. 
In addition to these there are certain special committees appointed 
from time to time, and other standing committees may be created. 

Since the board of education follows the method of transacting 
its business largely through its committees, these committees have 
come to fill a very important place in the conduct of the schools. 
It appears also that the chairmen of the several committees have 
unusual powers, since they can transact business directly with 
supervisors, principals, and teachers in the schools, or take the 
initiative in recommending appointments quite independent of the 
superintendent of schools. For example, under the board's rules, 
the chairman of the committee on supplies approves requisitions 
for supplies without reference to the superintendent of schools. The 
chairman of the committee on schools appears to have quite as rnir.h 
to do with the direction and management of the educational affairs 
of the schools as the superintendent himself. This last described 
situation has quite certainly come about through the fact that the 
superintendent himself is, by virtue of his office, a member of the 
board of education, and the further fact of his being assigned to 
membership on the committee on schools. But he is not the chair- 
man of this committee. 

This position of the superintendent as a committee member tends 
to destroy his function as an independent executive officer of the 
board and creates an unnatural relation between the board and the 
superintendent of schools, who should be the board's executive officer. 
The proper relation between the superintendent and the board of 
education is made impossible by the fact that the superintendent of 
schools is elected by the people as county superintendent and not by 
the board as city superintendent; and this impossibility was confirmed 
when the superintendent of schools was made a member of the board 
by charter provision. The very nature of a superintendent's work 
argues against the policy of establishing such relationship. It is 
quite apparent that this experiment, unique in city school administra- 
tion in the United States, has in practice proven itself an unwise 
departure from the prevailing custom. 

HOW THE BOARD TRANSACTS ITS BUSINESS. 

The board of education, as already stated, transacts its business 
largely through its committees, each committee having the right to 
take the initiative in any matter which may come directly before it, 
and to make recommendations thereon to the board for its immediate 
action without such matter having been previously presented to the 
board. The reverse of this procedure is, of course, often followed. 
But even then in the great majority of cases the practice seems to be 



78 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FRANCISCO. 

to refer questions coming directly to the board to the proper com- 
mittees for their consideration and report before action is taken. 
The board is therefore a committee-working board. 

It seems that the board does not follow the practice of printing 
the transactions of its meetings so as to make the records of its 
official acts available for distribution to its officers and the heads 
of departments, who ought to be furnished with such information. 
Since the board of necessity not only transacts the routine business 
of the schools of the city but officially approves and declares from 
time to time certain general and specific policies which affect vitally 
the work of the schools, its official proceedings should be printed for 
the use of all officers and heads of departments of the school system 
and for the information of the public. At the end of the school year 
bound copies of these proceedings should be furnished to board 
members and school officials, to be kept on file for reference. 

MEMBERS OF BOARD PAID. 

The appointive members of the board are named by the mayor for 
a term of four years, and each such member is paid a salary of $3,000 
per year. The ex officio member of the board (the county superin- 
tendent of schools) draws no salary for his services as a board member 
other than that which he receives as superintendent of schools, which 
is $4,000 a year. 

It seems quite certain that San Francisco pays the members of its 
board of education a salary, in opposition to the practice of all other 
American cities, because the charter clearly intends that this board 
shall be considered not only as the people's agency for the general 
administration and management of the schools, as in other cities, but 
also as a body of technical experts for the performance of many 
duties which in other cities are assigned to superintendents of schools 
and other school executives. Being paid a salary, the members of 
the board are required to give their full time to the duties of their 
offices. Probably this unusual provision of the charter was inserted 
as a vague protest against the fact that the board of education has no 
power of control under the State constitution and the State school 
laws of California over the selection of the superintendent of schools 
and his deputies. 

SOME EVILS OF THE DUAL FORM OF CONTROL. 

No matter how the present unfortunate method of school control 
in San Francisco came about, the plan as it works out in practice is 
unsatisfactory in the extreme. Proper relations between the super- 
intendent of schools and his staff of deputies on the one hand and 
the board of education on the other hand is impossible. They can 
hardly perform their official administrative acts without complica- 
tion and misunderstanding, and without at times running counter to 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. • 79 

each other in the exercise of their authority. The proper official 
subordination of the superintendent of schools and his deputies, and 
through them the proper relation of all the educational forces of the 
board of education as a central body of control, can not be estab- 
lished. Because of the dual system of administration which has 
unavoidably arisen out of constitutional and charter provisions, the 
entire supervisory force and teaching staff are constantly in uncer- 
tainty as to whether they should regard the superintendent and his 
deputies or the board of education and its committees as their imme- 
diate official superiors. This situation has affected the supervising 
and teaching forces and the entire community as well. It is largely 
responsible for the " unrest" both inside and outside of the school 
system. San Francisco can not reasonably hope that its schools will 
do the work desired of them until the method of school board control 
has been changed. 

The board is nonpartisan, or more strictly speaking, bipartisan. 
The charter requires that "the board shall never be so constituted as 
to contain more than two members of the same political party." 
This provision, which of course has reference to the four appointive 
members of the board, is wise, and the principle should be retained in 
any revision of law or charter in regard to the constitution and func- 
tions of the board. 

While the board of education of San Francisco has most of the 
powers usually granted boards of education, and while it performs 
many unusual functions, its powers are unfortunately limited in two 
important respects: 

1. The board of education can not levy taxes for the support of the 
schools. The power to levy taxes is delegated to the board of super- 
visors of the city and county of San Francisco, to which the board of 
education submits in the month of April of each year an estimate of its 
needs for the ensuing fiscal year. 

2. The board of education can not construct or repair schoolhouses. 
This power is delegated to the board of public works, which, like the 
board of supervisors, is a coordinate branch of the city government. 

This means, of course, that the board of education of San Francisco 
is not an independent body. It has neither full and final power, nor 
full and final responsibility in the management and control of the 
public school system and of its business and educational affairs. The 
board of supervisors, having full power under the charter to revise 
the estimates of the board of education before setting the school 
levy, may or may not grant the amounts contained in the estimate. 
The board of public works may or may not see fit to carry out the 
plans of the board of education for the erection and repair of build- 
ings. In either case the power of the board of education to carry 
out its plans for the extension of the school system and for the 
improvement of its efficiency depends on the action of an independent 



80 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

coordinate body over which the board of education has no control. 
The board of education, therefore, is unable to formulate any definite 
policy of education with the certainty of being able to put it into 
operation; and as a consequence it can not be held responsible for 
the sufficiency or efficiency of the school system. 

A study of the school system in all parts of the country shows that, 
for efficiency of administration and for the promotion of all the best 
interests of the schools, boards of education should be given full 
control over the educational, business, and financial affairs of the 
school system. In other words, boards of education should be inde- 
pendent of all other branches of the city government; and this 
should be the case in San Francisco. The board of education of 
San Francisco ought to have, through its proper officers, full control 
and management not only of all its educational activities but of its 
business and financial affairs as well; it should not only make its 
own budget, but it should have power to make the school levy: it 
should not only select and purchase school sites but, under the 
guidance of its proper technical experts, it should plan and construct 
schoolhouses and make all necessary repairs to the school plant. In 
other words, the board of education should be given full power to 
control and manage, through its proper officers, every detail con- 
nected with the management of the public school system. This will 
tend not only to give the board of education power — it will tend also 
to give it dignity in the sight of the people. Finally, such a plan 
will make it possible for the people to fix responsibility for efficiency 
or inefficiency in the conduct and management of their school affairs. 

PRACTICE IN OTHER CITIES. 

As already stated, each of the appointive members of the board of 
education of San Francisco receives a salary of $3,000 a year, which 
is contrary to the prevailing practice in the cities of the United States, 
as is clearly shown in Table 55, which includes a majority of all the 
larger cities of the country: 

Table 55. — Practice of cities in regard to paying members of boards of education. 1 



Name of cit y 



Population 

(census 

1910). 



Board of education 
paid or unpaid. 



New York j 4,766,883 Unpaid. 

Chicago 2, 185, 283 Do. 

Philadelphia ; 1, 549, 008 Do. 

St. Louis 687,029 I Do. 

Boston j 670,585 Do. 

Cleveland ! 560,663 ' Do. 

Baltimore ! " 558,485 ! Do. 

Pittsburgh 533,905 i Do. 

Detroit ! 465,766 I Do. 

Buffalo ; 423,715 I Do. 

San Francisco 416, 912 I Paid $3,000 per year. 

1 Adapted from "A Study of the Salary Schedule of City School Systems," Research Bureau, Public 
Education Association, Buffalo, N. Y., 1916. 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 81 

Table 55. — Practice of cities in regard to paying members of boards of education — Con. 



Name of city. 



Milwaukee 

Cincinnati 

Newark.. 

New Orleans 

Washington 

Los Angeles 

Minneapolis 

Jersey City 

Kansas City 

Seattle 

Indianapolis 

Providence 

Louisville 

Rochester 

Denver 

Portland, Oreg — 

Columbus 

Toledo 

Oakland 

Birmingham 

Memphis 

Omaha 

Dayton 

Nashville 

Lowell 

Spokane 

Trenton 

San Antonio 

Reading 

Salt Lake City.... 

Dallas 

Lynn 

Des Moines 

Lawrence 

Kansas City, Kans 



Population 

(census 

1910). 



373,857 

363,591 
347, 469 
339,075 
331,069 
319, 198 

301,408 
267,779 
248,381 
237, 194 
233,650 
224,326 
223,928 
218, 149 
213,381 
207,214 
181,511 
168, 497 
150, 174 

132,685 
131,105 



124,096 
116,577 
110.364 
106,294 
104,402 
96,815 
96,614 
96,071 
92,777 
92, 104 
89,336 
86,368 
85,892 
82,331 



Board of education 
paid or unpaid. 



Paid $3 each meeting; 

limit, $100 per year. 
Unpaid. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Paid $10 each meeting; 
limit, $50 per month. 
Unpaid. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Salary $1,200 per year. 
Unpaid. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Paid $10 per meeting; 
limit, $40 per month. 
Unpaid. 

Paid $480 per year; 
president $600 per 
year. 
Unpaid. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Paid $100 per year. 
Unpaid. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 



In the above-named 46 American cities there are 39 unpaid and 
7 paid boards of education. San Francisco pays the members of 
its board of education each $3,000 per year; Milwaukee pays $3 
for each meeting, with a limit of $100 a year; Los Angeles pays 
$10 for each meeting, with a limit of $50 per month; Oakland pays 
$10 for each meeting, with a limit of $40 per month; Salt Lake 
City pays $100 per year; Rochester, N. Y., pays $1,200 per year; 
and Memphis, Tenn., pays $480 to each member and $600 to the 
president of the board. 

The pay of board members in each of these seven cities, with the 
exception of San Francisco, is evidently only nominal. The pre- 
vailing custom and weight of public opinion are overwhelmingly 
against the policy of paying real salaries to members of boards of 
education; nor do they favor the paying of nominal salaries or fees 
for attending meetings. San Francisco, however, construes its pay 
as a fixed salary, and in consequence requires that its board members 
give their entire time to the duties of their office. 
93815—17 6 



82 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

FUNCTION OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

From the preceding discussion it may be clearly seen that the 
complex administrative situation as it has developed in San Fran- 
cisco, and all its attendant evils, are due in the first place to the 
fact that it has not been possible properly to harmonize the provi- 
sions of the State constitution, the State school code, and the charter 
so as to produce a plan of unit control whereby the full direction 
and management of the schools might be centralized in the hands of 
the board of public education with full power and responsibility as 
the representatives of the people; and in the second place to a failure 
on the part of those who framed the city charter to understand the 
proper functions of a board of- education. But for these difficulties 
and this misconception the schools of San Francisco would most 
probably now be working under a plan of unit control similar to 
that in vogue in the leading cities and would have an unpaid board 
with the powers enumerated on page 120 of this report. 

STEPS NECESSARY TO EFFECT UNIFIED, RESPONSIBLE CONTROL. 

To make such a plan possible it will be necessary — 

(1) To amend the constitution of the State so as to relieve the 
county of San Francisco of the obligation to elect a county super- 
intendent of schools. 

(2) To amend the charter of San Francisco in such a way as to 
provide for the creation of a board of education whose members 
shall serve without pay; which shall be independent of all other 
branches of the city government; shall have power to appoint the 
superintendent of schools and to confirm or reject the superintendent's 
nominations of all deputy or assistant superintendents, directors of 
special departments, supervisors, principals, teachers, and such other 
officers and employees as may be provided by charter or by action 
of the board; and shall have full control and management, through 
its superintendent of schools and his assistants, of all matters relating 
to public-school affairs of the city, whether in the educational, the 
business, or the financial departments of the school system. 

(3) To amend the charter so as to establish beyond question the 
proper relation between the board of education and the superin- 
tendent of schools as its technical expert and executive and of the 
board's employees under him. 

After the amendment of the constitution the revision of the charter 
is the one vital question upon which the best thought of those inter- 
ested in the improvement of the schools of San Francisco should be 
centered. They should make sure that the revision is based upon 
those principles which have come to be accepted as fundamental to 
good school administration. Otherwise the result must be disap- 
pointing. 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 



83 



PRINCIPLES OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT. 

Probably no clearer or sounder statement of principles defining 
the functions of a board of education and its proper relation to its 
technical experts has been formulated than that made by Dr. Franklin 
Bobbitt, of the University of Chicago, under the caption, General 
Organization and Management of Public Schools, in the report of 
the survey of the schools of Denver. Dr. Bobbitt emphasizes the 
fact that the best principles of business management applicable to 
a business corporation and the principles that should govern the 
business management of a school corporation — that is, of an incor- 
porated public school system — are the same. He points out that 
the functions of a board of education or of school directors is in every 
way identical with the functions of a board of directors of a business 
corporation; that the principles of good management in the school 
world are identical with the principles of good management in the 
business world. 

For purposes of comparison and to impress this analogy, Dr. Bob- 
bitt has set forth in parallel columns the principles of administration 
which should govern the two types of corporations — business and 
education — as follows : 

Principles of Administration to Govern Corporations. 



Manufacturing Corporation Employing 
1,500 People. 



School Corporation Employing 1,500 
People. 



The owners, called stockholders, select 
a board of directors, whose function is 
solely representative. Their only duty 
is to serve the best interests of those whom 
they represent. 



The owners, called citizens, select a 
board of education, whose function is 
solely representative. Their only duty 
is to serve the best interests of those 
whom they represent. 



ii. 

The stockholders are laymen with re- 
spect to the specialized labors to be per- 
formed, and the directors are also lay- 
men. Neither stockholders nor directors 
are familiar with the specialized tech- 
nique involved in the work. They do 
know the results that they want, and 
they know there are men familiar with 
all the technical processes involved in 
getting these results. They employ, 
therefore, a trained and experienced 
specialist of this character, the strong- 
est that they can find, for their executive. 
They call him their general manager. 



ii. 

The citizens are laymen with respect 
to the specialized labors to be performed, 
and the members of the board of educa- 
tion are also laymen. Neither citizens 
nor board members are familiar with the 
specialized technique involved in the 
work. They do know the results that 
they want and they know there are men 
who are familiar with all the technical 
processes involved in getting these re- 
sults. They employ, therefore, a trained 
and experienced specialist of this charac- 
ter, the strongest that they can find, for 
their executive. They call him their 
general superintendent. 



84 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 



in. 

The board of directors, after careful 
consideration of conditions and possibili- 
ties, and in constant consultation with 
their executive, make decision and an- 
nounce to their executive the general 
policies that they wish adhered to. 

IV. 

The executive draws up detailed plans 
for every department of the work. This 
covers the general form of organization 
of the personnel to be employed and 
the series of processes to be performed in 
each department. 

The plans will show — 
The number of assistant managers. 
The duties of assistant managers. 
Special departmental heads. 
Specialists in technical processes. 
The foremen to be employed. 
The number and types of workmen. 
The duties to be assigned to each. 
The series of processes to be per- 
formed. 
Buildings needed, and the building 
plans demanded by the work and 
the exact building equipment for 
the work. 
The machinery and other equipment 
that will exactly serve for the best 
type of work. 



v. 

The board of directors will consider 
the detailed plans presented by their ex- 
ecutive to see so far as they can whether 
the plans conform to the general policies 
adopted. If they do conform, they ap- 
prove. If they do not conform, they 
point out the divergencies and ask their 
executive to make amendments in his 
plans. This process will continue until 
the detailed plans conform to general 
policies. 

If during this process there is serious 
disagreement between the board and 
executive, the board will call in a com- 
petent consulting specialist, whose com- 
petence can be approved by their execu- 
tive, to advise with them. 



in. 

The board of education, after careful 
consideration of conditions and possibili- 
ties, and in constant consultation with 
their executive, make decision and an- 
nounce to their executive the general 
policies that they wish adhered to. 

IV. 

The executive draws up detailed plans 
for every department of the work. This 
covers the general form of organization 
of the personnel to be employed and the 
series of processes to be performed in each 
department. 
The plans will show — 
The number of assistant superin- 
tendents. 
The duties of assistant superintend- 
ents. 
Special departmental heads. 
Special supervisors. 
The principals to be employed. 
The number and types of teachers, 

engineers, etc. 
The duties to be assigned to each. 
Courses of study and methods of pro- 
cedure. 
Buildings needed, and the building 
plans demanded by the work, and 
the exact building equipment for 
the work. 
The text-books, library, and supple- 
mentary books, supplies, shop 
equipment, furniture, etc., that 
will exactly serve for the best type 
of work. 

v. 

The board of education will consider 
the detailed plans presented by their ex- 
ecutive to see so far as they can whether 
the plans conform to the general policies 
adopted. If they do conform, they ap- 
prove. If they do not conform, they 
point out the divergencies and ask their 
executive to make amendments to his 
plans. This process will continue until 
the detailed plans conform to general 
policies. 

If during this process there is serious 
disagreement between board and execu- 
tive, the board will call in a competent 
consulting specialist,, whose competence 
can be approved by their executive, to 
advise with them. 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 



85 



The general manager will nominate 
men for his assistants and for his major 
departmental heads. The board may or 
may not pass upon these nominations 
before the men are employed. If the 
board is assured of the competence of its 
executive, it knows that he can choose 
these departmental heads with greater 
assurance of good judgment than can they. 
They realize that they can not even pass 
rationally upon his nominations without 
the aid of independent competent con- 
sulting specialists. They have placed 
the responsibility upon their general 
manager for results. They will never 
hamper him by refusing the men he wants 
unless there is incontestable proof of the 
unfitness of these men. His recommen- 
dation of such men is proof of his unfit- 
ness. The board will therefore never, or 
practically never, veto a nomination 
made by their general manager. Always 
when they are called upon to exercise 
such veto they must consider whether 
they do not need a new general manager. 



VII. 

The general manager, in consultation 
with his assistants, department heads, 
and specialists in processes, employs 
foremen and workmen. 

The board of directors does not pass on 
these nominations. It is a principle of 
business management that responsibility 
is actually placed upon general manager 
and department heads only in so far as 
they are given full control over all the 
means to be employed in doing the 
work. The qualifications of foremen and 
workmen constitute one of the most im- 
portant of the means that is to be placed 
under the full control of the overhead 
management, as they are commissioned 
to get results. Neither the stockholders 
nor the board of directors care who does 
the work. Simply they want it done, and 
done well. It is not a principle of busi- 
ness management for the board of direc- 
tors to approve the names of the indi- 
vidual workmen who are to be employed. 

They do not consider even the possi- 
bility of a veto. 



VI. 

The superintendent will nominate 
men for his assistants and for his 
major departmental heads. The board 
will exercise its rights and duties of ante- 
cedent inspection of these nominations 
before appointments are made. This is 
to make assurance doubly sure. If the 
board is assured, however, of the compe- 
tence of its executive, it knows that he 
can choose these departmental heads 
with greater assurance of good judgment 
than can they. They realize that they 
can not even pass rationally upon his 
nominations without the aid of inde- 
pendent competent consulting specialists. 
They have placed the responsibility upon 
their superintendent for results. They 
will never hamper him by refusing the 
men he wants unless there is incontesta- 
ble proof of the unfitness of these men. 
His recommendation of such men is 
proof of his unfitness. The board will 
therefore never, or practically never, 
veto a nomination made by their super- 
intendent. Always when they are called 
upon tp exercise such veto they must 
consider whether they do not need a new 
superintendent. 

VII. 

The superintendent, in consultation 
with his assistants, department heads, 
and special supervisors, nominates prin- 
cipals, teachers, janitors, engineers, phy- 
sicians, nurses, clerks, etc. 

Again to make assurance doubly sure 
that no mistake is made, the board exer- 
cises its antecedent inspectorial powers 
and approves or disapproves all nomina- 
tions before appointment is made. The 
board conforms to the cardinal principle 
of business management stated opposite 
by never vetoing a nomination made by their 
superintendent unless there is evident and 
incontestable proof of unfitness on the part 
of the one nominated, as approved by a com- 
petent consulting specialist called in to 
advise the board where doubts have arisen 
as to the competence of their superintendent's 
ability to nominate. 

At the same session they will consider the 
advisability of employing a stronger super- 
intendent in whose recommendations they 
can place confidence. 



86 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



The board of directors places at the 
disposal of their general manager all 
funds needed for the conduct of the work 
as embodied in the budget drawn up by 
their executive on the basis of the plans 
of work approved by the board. The 
expenditure of the itemized funds of the 
budget is left to the general manager and 
his assistants. Only in matters of large 
moment will the board use its privilege 
of antecedent inspection of budgetary 
expenditures. 

IX. 

The general manager and his corps will 
do the work according to the plans and 
specifications approved by the board. 
They will operate and control all the 
means that have been placed at their 
disposal by the board. 

The board will not interfere in any of 
the acts on the part of any members of 
the factory organization. 



VIII. 

The board of education places at the 
disposal of their superintendent all funds 
needed for the conduct of the work as 
embodied in the budget drawn up by 
their executive on the basis of the plans 
of work approved by the board. The ex- 
penditure of the itemized funds of the 
budget is left to the superintendent and 
his assistants. Only in matters of large 
moment will the board use its privilege 
of antecedent inspection of budgetary 
expenditures. 

ix. 

The superintendent and his corps will 
do the work according to the plans and 
specifications approved by the board. 
They will operate and control all the 
means that have been placed at their 
disposal by the board. 

The board will not interfere with any 
of the acts on the part of any members of 
the school organization. 



At stated intervals the board will 
require of its general manager an account 
of his stewardship. They will ask for 
reports on finance, equipment, materials 
purchased, materials consumed, mate- 
rials on hand, stock manufactured and 
sold, stock on hand, cost accounting in 
the various departments, efficiency re- 
ports, etc. 

The board will examine these reports 
and compare them year after year; com- 
pare them with similar reports of other 
factories if such are obtainable, etc. 

If, as judged by these comparisons, the 
board is satisfied as to results, they \ ill 
ask that the work continue as it has been 
going. They will not demand improve- 
ments, though they will encourage inven- 
tions and discoveries that look to improve- 
ment. With things thus going well, 
they will place all possible power in the 
hands of their general manager, so that he 
can improve the work if he can find the 
means. 

When the board finds shortcomings 
revealed in the reports, they will demand 
explanations that explain. If satisfac- 



At stated intervals the board of educa- 
tion will require of its superintendent an 
account of his stewardship. They will 
ask for reports on finance, equipment, 
materials purchased, materials consumed, 
materials on hand, instructional results, 
attendance, promotions, failures, gradu- 
ates, cost accounting in the various depart- 
ments, efficiency reports, etc. 

The board will examine these reports 
and compare them year after year; com- 
pare them school with school and with 
corresponding reports from other cities. 

If, as judged by these comparisons, the 
board is satisfied as to results, they will 
ask that the work continue as it has been 
going. They will not demand improve- 
ments, though they will encourage inven- 
tions and discoveries that look to improve- 
ment. With things thus going well, they 
will place all possible power in the hands 
of their superintendent, so that he can 
improve the work if he can find the 
means. 

When the board finds shortcomings 
revealed in the reports, they will demand 
explanations that explain. If satisfac- 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 



87 



tory, they ask for recommendations from 
their general manager as to changes 
needed in general policy or in the details 
of , policy. They will grant what is 
needed if it promises remedy; they will 
back up his labors as fully as they can, 
and then they will stand aside and let 
him bear the responsibility for results. 

i If he fails again, or if his first failure was 
serious, after having been given sufficient 
time and sufficient power for success, the 
board of directors will let him go; and 
they will take on a new general manager. 
Their policy must be to dismiss the 
weak man and to hold on to the strong 
man. 

XI. 

At stated times, or at any time when 
conditions appear to demand it, the stock- 
holders will require of their representative 
board of directors an account of their 
stewardship. 

They will ask for reports as to the gen- 
eral policies followed, the reason for these 
policies wherever serious questions may 
arise, and for all inspectorial reports of all 
kinds enumerated in the foregoing section. 

This practice is not universal yet in the 
business world — not even common. But 
it is growing in extent and frequency, and 
is recognized as a necessary principle of 
sound management when the manage- 
ment is intended efficiently to serve the 
interests of the stockholders. 

If the stockholders approve, they will 
sustain their board in all of its acts. They 
will give it all the support that they can. 

If the stockholders disapprove, they 
will ask for changes in the matters disap- 
proved. The board will make itself cog- 
nizant of their wishes as fully as possible, 
accept all means placed at their disposal 
for the improvement in the work, and 
inaugurate the new policies required or 
make the necessary amendments to the 
old. 

If, after the wishes of the stockholders 
are made known to the board, the latter 
continue negligent or derelict, or if their 
failure to serve the best interests of the 
stockholders has been serious, they will 
be promptly relieved of their stewardship 
and more faithful representatives placed 



tory, they ask for recommendations from 
their superintendent as to changes needed 
in general policy or in the details of pol- 
icy. They will grant what is needed if it 
promises remedy; they will^back up his 
labors as fully as they can, and then they 
will stand aside and let him bear the 
responsibility for results. 

If he fails again, or if his first failure was 
serious, after having been given sufficient 
time and sufficient power for success, the 
board of education will let him go; and 
they will take on a new superintendent. 

Their policy must be to dismiss the 
weak man and to hold on to the strong 
man. 

XI. 

At stated times, or at any time when 
conditions appear to demand it, the citi- 
zens will require of their representative 
board of education an account of their 
stewardship. 

They will ask for reports as to the gen- 
eral policies followed, the reasons for 
these policies wherever serious questions 
may arise, and for all inspectorial reports 
of the kinds enumerated in the foregoing 
section. 

This practice is not universal yet in 
community supervision of their boards of 
school directors. It is not even common. 
But it is growing in extent and frequency, 
and is recognized as a necessary principle 
of sound management when the manage- 
ment is intended efficiently to serve the 
interests of the citizens. 

If the citizens approve, they will sus- 
tain their board in all of its acts. They 
will give it all the support that they can. 

If the citizens disapprove, they will 
ask for changes in the matters disap- 
proved. The board will make itself cog- 
nizant of their wishes as fully as possible, 
accept all means placed at their disposal 
for the improvement in the work, and 
inaugurate the new policies required or 
make the necessary amendments to the 
old. 

If, after the wishes of the citizens 
are made known to the board, the latter 
continue negligent or derelict, or if their 
failure to serve the best interests of the 
citizens has been serious, they will 



88 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

in their stead. The policy of the stock- promptly be relieved of their stewardship 
holders must be to relieve only those who and more faithful representatives placed 
prove negligent or unfaithful. They in their stead. The policy of the citizens 
must not dispense with experience of the must be to relieve only those who prove 
right sort. But unfaithful directors will negligent or unfaithful. They must not 
be relieved of their responsibilities. dispense with experience of the right sort. 

They will hold on to the service of But unfaithful directors will be relieved 
faithful board members to the last of their responsibilities, 
extremity. They will hold on to the services of 

faithful board members to the last 

extremity. 

This statement by Dr. Bobbitt will prove a safe guide to the people 
of San Francisco in any revision which they may undertake to make 
of that section of the charter relating to the public schools. 

ATTITUDE OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. 

The same principles are embodied in the " Report of the Committee 
on the Relation between Boards of Education and Superintendents n 
adopted by the Department of Superintendence of the National 
Education Association at its meeting in Kansas City in February 
and March, 1917. 

The following quotations from sections 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of this 
report reinforce Dr. Bobbitt's statement in the report of the Denver 
survey and bear directly upon the situation in San Francisco: 

Section 3. The representatives of the people can not perforin directly the large 
duties of carrying on the school system. They must employ technically trained offi- 
cers to conduct the schools. To these technically trained officers they must look for 
proper information on which to base their decisions, and they must be prepared to 
intrust to those officers the powers and responsibilities which attach to the daily con- 
duct of school work. 

There is little doubt on the part of all communities that technical training is neces- 
sary for the proper conduct of schools, but the exact definition of the sphere within 
which technical training is needed is not yet worked out in most systems. 

A series of concrete examples may therefore be offered as illustrating the type of 
duty which board members can not properly perform. No board member should 
teach classes. No board member should act as principal of a school. No board 
member should negotiate with a publisher of textbooks, nor should pass on the availa- 
bility of a given book for use in a school. No board member should examine teachers 
with a view to determining their qualifications for appointment. No board member 
should plan a school building. No board member should write the course of study. 
Even where individual cases may arise in which particular members of certain boards 
would have the ability to perform these tasks, it is better that a well-established 
division of labor should be recognized. It is the duty of the members of the board to 
see that technical officers do the work of the system, but the board should not do this 
work itself. It is a public board, created to see that a certain piece of public work is 
done, not a group of technical officers created to do the work. 

The safe analogy in this case is the analogy of the board of directors in a business 
corporation. No one can imagine a director of a railroad stopping a train and giving 
the engineer and the conductor orders about their duties. It ought to be possible to 
organize and define the technical duties of a school system and to distinguish them 
from the broad duties which reside in the representatives of the people. 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 89 

Sec. 6. The technical officers of the school system will be most harmonious in their 
activities if they are placed under the supervision of a single head or manager who is 
the executive head of the system. This central supervisor should have the responsi- 
bilities and the rights which will make possible a compact organization of the work- 
ing force in the schools. 

Sec. 7. The superintendent must be a man of superior training. He must be pre- 
pared to report plans of organization and to make a clear statement of results. He 
should organize the officers under him in such a way as to secure from them in detail 
an efficient type of organization, and he should secure from them adequate reports on 
which to base the statements which he presents to the board. 

Sec. 8. In the performance of these functions the superintendent has a right to the 
initiative in technical matters. Specifically, he should have the sole right to per- 
form the following: (a) Recommend all teachers, all officers of supervision, and all 
janitors and clerks; (6) work out the course of study with the cooperation of the other 
officers of instruction; (c) select textbooks with the same cooperation; (d) have a deter- 
mining voice in matters of building and equipment; and (e) draw up the annual 
budget. 

These technical recommendations should always be reviewed by the board, and 
the approval of the board should be a necessary step for final enactment. This will 
insure the careful preparation of reports and the careful study of results. The super- 
intendent is not to be authorized to conduct the system apart from the board, but he 
should be insured by definite forms of organization against interference which will 
defeat his plans and divide his responsibility. 

Public business suffers when these technical matters are improperly handled. Let 
us assume two cases. In the first case the superintendent may be inefficient, and the 
board or some other active agency may cover over his inefficiency for a time by doing 
his work for him. The result will be disastrous in the end. It would be better for 
public business to bring the inefficiency to the surface as quickly as possible and 
remove the officer who can not conduct the system properly. In the second case the 
superintendent is efficient, but is hampered by lack of definition of his functions. 
The school system will lack in unity of organization and in harmony of internal opera- 
tion. The system will be defective in so far as it is divided against itself. 

Sec 9. .In the relations of the board to all officers of the system it is essential that 
appointment, reappointment, dismissal, and promotion be removed from the inter- 
ference of petty influences, and that all such transactions be based on records which 
are systematically organized and supervised. 

There is no clearer indication of the condition of a school system than the attitude 
of the teachers and other officers to their duties and to the results which they are 
securing. The school system which is well organized exhibits cooperation on the 
part of all its officers. The interests of the public suffer beyond measure when 
appointments are the result of illegitimate personal influences. 

This argument in support of the underlying principles of proper 
school control is so convincing that no further argument or elabora- 
tion of principles is needed here. It is clearly evident that the best 
thought is rapidly crystallizing in favor of the application of these 
principles to the management of city school systems. Practice is 
following thought. 

There can be no doubt of the desire of the people of San Francisco 
for improvement in the control and conduct of their schools. The 
members of the board of education, the superintendent of schools and 
his deputies, members of the teaching staff, and a large group of 
both professional and business men and women and a great body of 



90 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

live, wide-awake citizens are eager for the change. The school 
authorities frankly admit that under present conditions it is next to 
impossible to conduct the schools successfully and happily. No 
doubt the majority of the people will welcome such thoroughgoing 
reform as will be necessary for the full application of the best and 
sanest methods of business management. All must realize, however, 
that no very valuable reforms can be brought about until San Fran- 
cisco^is relieved of the present handicap of dual control and divided 
authority produced by the conflicting laws under which the school 
system has been organized. 

THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS STAFF. 

The teaching staff of San Francisco, including the superintendent 
of schools, the deputy superintendents of schools, the supervisors 
and directors of special work, and the principals and teachers in the 
day and evening schools, numbers between 1,400 and 1,500. The 
following outline shows the general plan of organization: 

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS. 

Deputy Superintendents of Schools. 

Supervisors or Directors of Special Subjects. 
Supervisor of Drawing. 
Supervisor of Music. 
Supervisor of Home Economics. 
Supervisor of Manual Training. 
Supervisor of Primary Grades. 

Director of Physical Education, Athletics, Social and Lecture Centers. 
Principals and Teachers. 

Principals of Day High Schools. 

Vice Principals. 

Heads of Departments. 

High School Teachers. 
Principals of Evening High Schools. 

Heads of Technical and Commercial Departments. 

Evening High School Teachers. 
Principals of Day Elementary Schools. 

Vice Principals or Yard Assistants. 

Grade Teachers. 

Kindergarten Teachers. 

Teachers Manual Training Centers. 

Teachers Home Economic Centers. 

Teachers Modern Language Centers. 
Principals of Evening Elementary Schools. 

Heads of Departments of Special Branches. 

Teachers of Evening Elementary Schools. 
Principals (or Head Teachers) of Special Schools. 

Teachers of Special Schools. 

THE SUPERINTENDENT OP SCHOOLS. 

As already stated, the superintendent of schools is a constitutional 
officer who is elected to his position by the qualified voters of the 
city and county of San Francisco for a term of four years, the elec- 
tion taking place at the time of the election of the governor, whose 
term of ofhce is also four years. The superintendent of schools is 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 91 

required to perform certain duties imposed upon him by the general 
statutes of the State and, in addition thereto, other duties imposed 
by the charter. Among the latter duties the superintendent of 
schools is required to enforce the rules and regulations of the board 
of education; to submit an annual report to the board, together with 
such recommendations as he deems proper; to visit and examine, 
with the assistance of his deputies, all the schools of the city at least 
twice a year with a view to determining their standing and classifi- 
cation; to recommend rules for the promotion, transfer, and grad- 
uation of pupils; to recommend courses of study, textbooks, and 
supplemental books; and to recommend the purchase of such appara- 
tus, books, and classroom supplies as may be required in connection 
with the work of instruction; to report to the board monthly upon 
the standing of the schools examined by him and his deputies; to 
examine, in conjunction with his deputies (who, together with the 
superintendent, constitute a city board of examination), all appli- 
cants for positions in the public schools; to recommend the issuance 
of certificates to those persons who successfully pass such examina- 
tion; and to recommend the revocation of such certificates should 
occasion arise under the law. 

While the superintendent of schools, under the law, has full power 
to appoint his deputies, he has no power in the selection of others of 
the supervising and teaching staff except the right to vote upon their 
approval or rejection when he is performing his function as a member 
of the board of education. In practice, supervisors, directors, and 
principals are, as a rule, appointed directly by the board, without 
recommendation from the superintendent of schools. This is not in 
accord with the best principles of school administration. If a school 
system is to be properly administered by the superintendent of schools, 
the superintendent must have authority to take the initiative in rec- 
ommending not only the members of his immediate staff, but also all 
supervisors, principals, and teachers whose work he is to direct. No 
appointments should be made to any of these positions except on his 
written recommendation. In spite of the fact, however, that super- 
visors, principals, and teachers are elected without the written rec- 
ommendation of the superintendent, San Francisco is at the present 
safeguarded against the appointment of incompetent teachers through 
the pressure of social, political, and other influences. This is effected 
by a rule of the board of education that requires all appointments, 
except in certain departments, to be made in the order of standing 
from proper eligible fists which the superintendent of schools and his 
board of examiners have established under the rules of the board. 
The method of setting up these lists is similar to that in vogue in 
other American cities. The operation of the plan as administered in 
San Francisco appears to be satisfactory in every way. 



92 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE SUPERINTENDENT. 

At the time of the visit of the survey commission the annual report 
of the superintendent of schools had not been issued in printed form 
since 1913. At the request of the commission the superintendent 
submitted typewritten copies of his reports for the years 1913-14, 
1914-15, and 1915-16. The latest of these reports, a document of 
approximately 200 pages, included a synopsis of recommendations 
made by the superintendent since January, 1913, many of which 
coincide with the recommendations of the survey commission. 

DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENTS OF SCHOOLS. 

Deputy superintendents of schools are, appointed to office for a 
period of four years without confirmation by the board of education. 

There are at present five deputy superintendents. By charter 
provision one additional deputy may be appointed for each addi- 
tional 8,000 children in average daily attendance over and above the 
base attendance of 45,000. 

The charter provides that a deputy superintendent of schools shall 
have had at least 10 years of successful experience in teaching and 
that he shall have been a resident of the city and county of San 
Francisco at least five years preceding his appointment to office. 
The requirement as to experience is a very proper and wise one, but 
the requirement as to residence is unfortunate in that it limits the 
selection of deputy superintendents to the local field. It is doubtless 
well to promote worthy principals to the position of deputy super- 
intendent frequently enough to make this goal serve as a stimulus to 
good work; yet it is well to bring in occasionally for this position men 
and women from other cities, and possibly from other educational 
positions than that of principal. This policy may bring new ideas 
and new ideals and new life for the school system at the same time. 
And it may happen also that at the time when a deputy superin- 
tendent is to be appointed there may be no principal in the schools 
of the city with qualifications needed for the office. To aid him in 
securing results, the superintendent of schools must have on his staff 
able assistants ; but he needs more than this — he needs in these most 
important positions of leadership men and women not only of ripe 
scholarship, superior personality, and high qualifications of leader- 
ship, but also of successful technical experience in the particular line 
of work which they may be called upon to do. If there are in the 
local system men and women in whom these qualifications are com- 
bined, they should be given the preference; if not, then for the good 
of the schools appointments should be made from outside of the 
city. The charter of San Francisco should be amended as to permit 
this policy. 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 93 

It is the duty of deputy superintendents to assist the superintend- 
ent in the administration of the public-school system, and at the 
same time to act as general supervisors of the work of instruction 
throughout the city. They visit schools and inspect classroom work; 
they make suggestions to principals and teachers for the improve- 
ment of school management and classroom instruction; hold teachers' 
meetings and perform such other duties as may be assigned them by 
the superintendent of schools. At the beginning of the school year 
the superintendent assigns to each deputy a certain number of schools 
over which he is to have administrative and supervisory charge for 
that year. These schools are, it appears, not grouped into districts, 
but are scattered throughout the city. It seems quite certain that 
the time of deputy superintendents may be better conserved and 
that they might do their work with greater economy of energy if the 
city were divided into subdivisions in such a way that it would be 
comparatively easy to go from one building to another in any dis- 
trict, and a deputy superintendent assigned to each district. 

In addition to the above duties each deputy superintendent might 
well have assigned to him the additional duty of supervising certain 
teachers of special work carried on in the schools. For this work of 
special supervision one deputy superintendent might be assigned to 
visit and inspect evening schools, another to visit and inspect high 
schools, and still another to have charge of other work. This special 
supervision of the deputy superintendent is, however, but incidental 
to the general administrative and supervisory duties outlined above. 

Recommendations for a closer and more definite organization of 
the work of deputy superintendents will be offered later. 

SUPERVISORS OF SPECIAL SUBJECTS. 

Supervisors of special work are appointed by the board of educa- 
tion without recommendation of the superintendent of schools; and 
further, most, if not all, of the heads of departments look directly 
to the board of education or the chairmen of its committees as the 
source from which they should receive official instruction and direc- 
tion. In practice, it has developed that the supervisors, broadly 
speaking, do not feel responsible to the superintendent and his 
deputies, and, what is not less unfortunate, many of the principals 
and teachers in the schools do not consider themselves as officially 
responsible to the supervisors. As a result, the directions of the 
supervisors are, in many cases, not carried out in the schools. This 
unfortunate situation can be remedied by statutory or charter 
amendment or by the adoption of a rule by the board of education 
placing the heads of these departments wholly under the official 
control of the superintendent of schools, and at the same time giving 



94 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

the superintendent and all his deputies full power to require work 
of proper standards from all supervisors, principals, and teachers. 

At the present time San Francisco has five supervisors of special 
work and one director of special activities, classified as follows: 
One supervisor of drawing, one supervisor of music, one supervisor 
of home economics, one supervisor of manual training, one super- 
visor of primary grades, and one director of the following activities — 
physical education, athletics, and all social-center, community-center, 
and lecture-center work. The supervisors neither have the aid of 
assistants in their departments, nor have they clerical help. Their 
field is so large and their work so important that these supervisors 
should have both clerical help and the help of assistant supervisors. 

The director of physical training and of the social-center, com- 
munity-center, and lecture-center activities gives only part of his 
time to the board of education, the other portion of it being given 
to the city government as its director of city playgrounds and recre- 
ational activities. This division of labor between the city and the 
school district serves but to call attention to the fact that all play- 
ground work and all recreational activity under public auspices in 
the city are educational in their intent and purpose, and should, 
therefore, be under the full control of the board of education. 

PRINCIPALS OF SCHOOLS. 

Principals of schools are appointed by the board of education 
without recommendation from the superintendent. However, under 
the rules of the board they are required to report both to the board 
of education and to the superintendent. They are held responsible 
as the administrative heads of their respective schools and are 
required to instruct all their teachers in all matters pertaining to 
the discipline and instruction of the children under their charge. 
San Francisco employs the following classes of principals in its 
public schools: Day high-school principals, evening high-school prin- 
cipals, day elementary-school principals, evening elementary-school 
principals, and special-school principals. In the high schools and 
in the larger of the elementary schools there are vice principals. 
In the elementary schools the vice principals are also called "yard 
assistants." 

TEACHERS. 

Teachers in the public schools are appointed to positions in most 
departments from eligible lists established under the rules of the 
board of education. A rule of the board stipulates that all appoint- 
ments and promotions shall be made upon merit. 

EXAMINATION AND CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS. 

Under the charter the superintendent and his deputies constitute 
a board of examiners whose duty it is to examine all applicants for 
certificates and prescribe a standard of proficiency which will entitle 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 95 

the person examined to receive a proper certificate in any one of the 
following-named classes : 

(a) High-school certificate, valid for six years, which shall authorize the holder, 
if appointed to a position, to teach in any primary, grammar, or high-school grade in 
San Francisco. 

(6) Grammar grade city certificate, valid for six years, which shall authorize the 
holder, if appointed to a position, to teach in any primary or grammar school in 
San Francisco. 

(c) Primary grade city certificate, valid for two years, which shall authorize the 
holder, if appointed to a position, to teach in any primary school (that is, in any 
school composed of pupils classified in the first, second, third, or fourth year grades 
of the puMic schools) in San Francisco. 

(d) Special certificate, valid for a period not to exceed six years, authorizing the 
holder, if appointed to a position in San Francisco, to teach the special su ject named 
in the certificate. 

Eligible lists are set up by the board of education through the 
means of a competitive civil-service examination. It is provided 
that this examination shall be both written and oral upon the theory 
and practice of teaching and such other topics as may from time to 
time be announced by the board. No one is permitted to enter the 
examination who does not first show a certificate from a physician 
appointed by the board stating that the applicant is in both mental 
and physical good health. It is also stipulated that every applicant 
must be the holder of a teacher's certificate of a grade not lower 
than the grammar grade certificate valid under the laws of the State 
of California. Each applicant passing the examination is entitled to 
have his name placed on the proper eligible list in the order of his 
standing, and is held subject to appointment to a regular position 
in the same order, but final election to a regular position in the 
schools can not be made until after satisfactory probationary service 
of two years. 

The setting up of eligible lists from which appointments shall be 
made is not an absolute requirement in all departments of the schools. 
For purposes of flexibility (and due no doubt also to the nature of 
the work and the limit in the supply of teachers) some of the depart- 
ments have not yet been placed under the eligible list rules. 

The teachers in the several departments of the public schools of 
San Francisco are classified as follows: Day high-school teachers; 
evening high-school teachers; day elementary-school teachers, com- 
prising the following groups — grade, kindergarten, manual-training, 
home-economics, modern-language teachers, and teachers of other 
special subjects; evening elementary-school teachers; and teachers of 
special schools, including open-air schools, schools for the deaf, schools 
for tubercular children, and corrective schools. It should be noted 
also in this connection that San Francisco follows the plan of estab- 
lishing heads of departments in its public day high schools, and 
maintains heads of departments of technical and commercial branches 
in its evenino; schools. 



96 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

RAISING THE STANDARDS OF THE SERVICE. 

The survey committee believes that in the appointment of teachers 
to positions in the schools of San Francisco the board of education 
and the superintendent of schools are united in an effort to secure 
the best teaching service available. Evidence of this is found in 
the raising, from time to time, of the requirements set for new ap- 
pointments and in the further extension of the civil-service list. 
Through this control at the point of intake, the character of the 
teaching staff is strengthened. There still remains, however, the 
necessity for the further improvement of the quality of the teaching 
service through the elimination of those teachers who, for any cause, 
are not rendering efficient service and can not be made to do so. To 
remove such teachers from the service is not a pleasant duty; yet it 
is a duty that should be performed kindly and firmly and without 
fail. Tne schools exist for the service of the children and the com- 
munity and not for the support of teachers. While in the service 
teachers should be helped and encouraged in every way possible to 
do their best work and to do it happily and joyously. When they 
no longer can or will work in such a way as to make the schools per- 
form fully their proper functions to the children and the community, 
they should be removed and their places filled by those who both can 
and will. The board of education should have power to remove 
from service any incompetent teacher on the recommendation of the 
superintendent of schools and without a hearing. For the purpose 
of such action and as a protection to the board and the superintend- 
ent, accurate records of the efficiency rating of the teachers should 
be kept on file in the office of the superintendent. Fortunately, a 
State retirement law, which allows any teacher who is properly re- 
tired a retirement salary or pension of $500 per year for the remainder 
of life, makes it easy to retire from the service most teachers who have 
become inefficient through old age; and the board of education should 
not hesitate to make full use of the provisions of this law when 
necessary. 

Still more important for the highest efficiency of the schools and 
for the happiness of all who work in them, whether as supervisors, or 
teachers, or pupils, is the constant improvement of the great body of 
teachers actually at work. This is a matter of vital concern and all 
possible means should be devised for inspiring the teachers in service 
with the highest ideals and for giving them opportunities for profes- 
sional growth and improvement and for encouraging them to take 
full advantage of these opportunities. Such means are not so common 
in the schools of San Francisco as they should be; but the fine spirit 
which the survey committee found among the teachers, principals, 
and supervisors, and others connected with the educational work of 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 97 

the schools, and the desire frequently expressed for more opportuni- 
ties for professional improvement make it quite certain that all such 
opportunities would be well used. The board of education, the super- 
intendent, and his deputies should give this matter constant a 
thoughtful attention. 

ORGANIZATION AND CLASSIFICATION. 

As already noted, the educational activities of the public schools of 
San Francisco are under the immediate direction of the board of 
education through a standing committee called a " schools committee, " 
and the superintendent of schools and his staff of deputies, neither 
body being properly related to the other under the law. 

The board of education on the one hand has certain definite, specific 
duties with regard to the educational work which it is called upon to 
perform under the charter; on the other hand, the superintendent of 
schools and his staff of deputies are called upon to do an identical 
piece of work in directing the educational activities of the schools, 
thereby creating the unfortunate double-headed plan of control 
already touched upon in this discussion. 

In the exercise of its powers under the State school code and under 
the city and county charter, the board of education of San Francisco 
has organized and is maintaining at the present time the following 
classes and types of schools: 

1. Kindergarten schools. 

2. Day elementary schools. 

3. Evening elementary schools. 

4. Day high schools. 

5. Evening high schools. 

6. School centers for manual training. 

7. School centers for work in home economics. 

8. Special schools as follows: 

(a) A deportment or corrective school. 
(6) Oral school fur the deaf. 

(c) Open-air school for tubercular children. 

(d) Schools for mental deviates. 

This enumeration shows the extent to which San Francisco has 
tried to adapt the organization of the schools to the varying needs 
of all the children of all the people of the city. Much remains to be 
done in this direction. Other departments and other types of schools 
should be established now and in the near future. This question 
is treated more fully later in this report. 

MORE KINDERGARTENS NEEDED. 

Some of the types of schools named in the above list are not being 
expanded rapidly enough to meet the needs of the city's children. 
This is notably true of the kindergarten department, which in 
93815—17 7 



98 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

1913 had but 66 pupils enrolled, 575 in 1915, and 883 in 1916. 
Several kindergarten schools are maintained by the Free Kinder- 
garten Association of the city. In 1916 these schools reported 1,760 
children enrolled. So the schools are not so much without the influ- 
ence of the kindergarten spirit in their work as the number of children 
in the public-school kindergartens would indicate. When, however, 
the total enrollment of 2,643 children in both public and private kinder- 
gartens in 1916 is set over against the enrollment of more than 9,000 
pupils in the first year of the elementary grades, the fact is made ap- 
parent at once that of the children of kindergarten age not more than 
one in five has the benefit of kindergarten training The board of 
education of San Francisco ought to make the kindergarten an integral 
part of the public schools and give to all children in the city be- 
tween the ages of 4 and 6 opportunities for two years of training in a 
kindergarten department, properly articulated with primary grades. 
Through such a policy the kindergartens supported by the various 
organizations of the city would gradually be absorbed into the public- 
school system. The value of kindergarten training in the life of city 
children and the importance of kindergarten instruction for young 
children need not be argued here. The fact that there are now en- 
rolled in the public-school kindergartens of the United States nearly 
half a million children bears eloquent testimony to the belief of many 
communities that the value of kindergarten instruction is a vital 
factor in the proper training of little children. 

The day elementary schools cover eight years of work, each year 
divided into an A and a B grade. General promotions are made 
throughout the schools on the semi-semester plan now in use in many 
American cities. The departmental plan of instruction has been 
introduced in the seventh and eighth year grades in a few of these 
schools. The French language is taught as an elective in five of the 
elementary schools; the German language in eight; the Spanish 
language in two ; the Italian language in four of the day elementary 
schools and in one evening elementary school. 

The offering of elective courses in modern languages is made 
mandatory under the State school law, but the board of education 
has the right to designate the particular schools in which each lan- 
guage shall be taught. Such schools are called "cosmopolitan 
schools," in the language of the school code. These schools tell the 
story of California's cosmopolitan population; and the cosmopolitan 
character of the population is emphasized in San Francisco. 

INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS. 

While the intermediate school is a common type of school in 
the State of California, San Francisco has but three, and these three 
are purposely maintained as elementary schools only. Two of these 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 99 

— the Horace Mann School and the Crocker School — confine their 
work to the sixth, seventh, and eighth-year grades; the Hamilton 
Intermediate School has fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth year grades. 
Neither of these schools is of the type commonly known as the junior 
high schools, schools of which type usually include seventh, eighth, 
and ninth year grades, and constitute the first three years of a high 
school of six years based on an elementary school of six years. Indeed, 
the desirability of organizing the schools on this plan does not seem 
to have been seriously considered by the responsible school officers 
of San Francisco, although this plan of organization has received the 
approval of students of education and important bodies of educators, 
including the Department of Superintendence of the National Educa- 
tion Association, and has been adopted fully or partially in many 
cities. For convenience, many cities which have adopted the 6-6 
plan of organization, divide the upper six years of the course into 
two groups of three years each, calling the two groups intermediate 
school and high school, or junior high school and senior high school. 
Because of the comparative newness of this plan of organization in 
American schools, any city of the size of San Francisco will want to 
try the experiment of such organization in a few schools before adopt- 
ing it generally. The three intermediate schools now in operation 
in San Francisco offer an excellent opportunity for the beginning of 
such an experiment by dropping the sixth-year grade at the Horace 
Mann and Crocker Schools, and the fifth and sixth year grades at the 
Hamilton School, adding a ninth grade to each school and revising 
the courses of study. It would probably be wise to organize other 
schools on this plan at once. The survey committee believes much 
might be gained by adopting the 6-6 plan of organization with 
junior and senior high schools for all the city, and that the board 
should adjust its plans to this end as rapidly as possible if the experi- 
ments here recommended prove satisfactory. 

CONGESTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS. 

One reason — and a very important one — why this plan of organiza- 
tion should, be carefully considered now is found in the fact that the 
board must provide relief in the immediate future for the present 
congestion in both the high schools and the elementary schools, and 
for this purpose must reconstruct and enlarge many old buildings or 
erect new ones. 

That the high schools are much congested is shown clearly by 
Table 56 and figure 35, which give the number of pupils per teacher in 
average daily attendance in high schools of 22 cities. 



100 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 56. — Number of pupils in average daily attendance in the high schools per teacher \ 
in San Francisco and in 22 other cities, for the year 1914- 1 
Pupils. 

1. SaltLakeCity 11.3 

2. Kansas City 15.2 

3. Rochester 16.9 



4. Los Angeles 18. 1 

5. Washington 18. 2 

6. Milwaukee 18. 6 

7. Pittsburgh , 18. 6 

8. St. Paul 18.7 

9. Baltimore 19.1 

10. St. Louis 19.2 

11. Detroit 19.6 



Pupils. 

12. Seattle 19.8 

13. Omaha 20. 

14. New Orleans 20. 2 

15. Cleveland 20. 2 

16. Cincinnati 20.5 

17. Buffalo 22.5 

18. Indianapolis 22. 9 

19. Jersey City 23. 3 

20. Portland 23.3 

21. Boston 26. 9 

22. SAN FRANCISCO 27.2 

Average, 20. 



This table shows that in 1914 San Francisco had in its high schools 
an average daily attendance per teacher of seven pupils above the 
average of the 22 cities named; 11 more than the average of the 
first five; nearly twice as many as Kansas City; and two and one- 
half times as many as Salt Lake City. From this the inference can 



Salt Lake Citj 


11.3 


Kansas City 


15.2 


Rochester 


16.9 


loa Angel es 


18.1 


Washington 


18.2 


Milwaukee 


18.6 


Pittsburgh 


18.6 


St Paul 


18.7 


Baltimore 


19.1 


St Louis 


19.2 


Detroit 


19.6 


Seattle 


19.8 


Omaha 


20.0 


Hew Orleans 


20.2 


Cleveland 


20.2 


Cinoinnatl 


20.6 


Buffalo 


22.5 


Indianapolis 


22.9 


Jersey City 


23.3 


Portland 


23.3 


Boston 


26.9 



*3AH FRAHCISCO 27.2 
AVERAGE 20.0 



Figure 35.— Average daily attendance per teacher in high schools. Of the 22 cities, 13 report average 
attendances of 18.1 to 20.5 pupils per teacher. Judged by the prevailing practice in the cities in this list, 
the numbers of pupils per teacher in Boston and San Francisco are excessive. 

safely be drawn that many classes will reach from 35 to 40 pupils 
each in average daily attendance, and still higher in enrollment, 
owing to the fact that the live enrollment in any school at any time 
is in excess of the average daily attendance (see Table 33). This 
means that San Francisco at present has practically reached the 
limit of congestion in many of the high schools, and that the situa- 
tion is such as to demand that a number of new teachers be employed 

i From "A Study of the Salary Schedule of City School Systems," Research Bureau, Public Education 
Association, Buffalo, N. Y., 1916. 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 101 

at once and the congestion relieved. Were the enrollment and 
attendance in high schools anything like as large in proportion to 
population as it is in many other cities (see Table 15), and as it should 
become in the near future in San Francisco, the congestion would be 
much greater still. 

DESIRABILITY OF CHANGING PRESENT ORGANIZATION. 

These facts of present congestion and probable increase in high- 
school enrollment and the desirability of reorganizing the schools on 
the 6-3-3 plan should all be considered in connection with the build- 
ing program. The board of education must, before undertaking any 
new buildings for high schools and for schools with grades above the 
first three or four years, answer for itself the following questions: 

First. Shall the public schools of the city continue their present 
organization on the 8-4 plan, with eight years of work in the ele- 
mentary grades and four years of work in the high-school grades? 
Or, 

Second. Shall the city take steps looking toward the gradual 
reorganization of its public schools on the 6-6 plan or the 6-3-3 plan, 
with six years in the elementary schools and six years in the high 
schools divided into two groups of three years each, as already 
described and as recommended by the survey committee ? 

If the board of education continues the 8-4 plan of organization, 
then, as stated elsewhere in this report, it must provide in the near 
future for at least two additional four-year high-school buildings to 
relieve the present congestion, and to bring high-school facilities 
nearer the homes of the children, and thereby amend to some extent 
the mistake which has been made in locating all the high schools in 
the heart of the city — a mistake which is no doubt responsible for 
the comparatively small high-school attendance. 

If the board should decide to adopt generally the 6-3-3 plan of 
organization, then it will be necessary to convert some of the ele- 
mentary school buildings to the use of intermediate or junior high 
schools, making such changes in them as may be necessary for this 
purpose; and to erect new buildings designed especially for this use. 
These intermediate or junior high schools should be so distributed 
over the city as to put them in easy reach of all the children. 

The taking of the ninth-year (first year of high school) pupils from 
the present high schools would relieve their congestion to such an 
extent as to make it possible to postpone the erection of other senior 
high-school buildings for two, three, or four years; certainly, how- 
ever, not longer if the high-school enrollment increases as it should. 
The pupils remaining in each of these high schools in the tenth, 
eleventh, and twelfth year grades would constitute a senior high 
school. 



102 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

REASONS FOR REORGANIZATION. 

In all cities in which the 6-6 plan or the 6-3-3 plan has been 
introduced it is claimed that it has been possible to bring about a 
decided improvement of the courses of study in all departments of 
the school system, and particularly in the seventh, eighth, and ninth 
year grades, in which the course of study in American schools gen- 
erally has been lacking in that quality of vital interest which grips 
and holds boys and girls of the ages represented in these grades. 
Many other reasons for such a reorganization of the 12 years of 
elementary and secondary schooling have been given in much detail. 
This is not the place to rehearse them. The following extract from 
Commissioner Claxton's introduction to the Annual Report of the 
Commissioner of Education for 1913 sums up briefly some of the 
more important of these reasons: 

1. For most children the beginning of adolescence, marking the transition from 
childhood to youth, comes at 12 or 13. Most writers on education have recognized 
this and accepted it in making their plans for a school system. Bishop Comenius 
suggested 6 years for the school of infancy or the school of the mother's knee, 6 years 
for the vernacular school, 6 years for the school of languages or the high school, and 
6 years for the college, university, and professional schools. Children entering school 
and attending regularly complete the work of the first 6 grades at 12 or 13 years of age. 

2. In most of our schools children make little real progress in the seventh and eighth 
grades. There has been much complaint that this is a period of marking time. This 
is especially true when the subject matter and the methods of the elementary school 
are carried through these grades, and when all the teachers are women. 

3. Taking up the seventh and eighth years as a part of the high school makes it 
easy to begin departmental teaching in these grades and to adapt the methods of 
teaching and discipline to the changing demands of the children. It also makes it 
much easier to begin work in foreign languages, constructive geometry, history, litera- 
ture, and elementary science where they should begin. We lose much by postpon- 
ing the study of languages to the later years, when children have grown out of the 
imitative period of life, in which they can most easily learn to understand, speak, 
read, and write a new language. This division also makes it possible to introduce 
vocational education two years earlier than is now the practice, and for many reasons 
it is very desirable that this should be done. 

4. Progress made by pupils in our high schools now suffers in comparison with that 
made by pupils of the Gymnasium and Realschule of Germany, the lycee of France, 
and the public school of England, and much of the work of our colleges must therefore 
be of a very elementary kind. With the rearrangement proposed here, boys and girls 
at the end of the 12 years of elementary and secondary school might have to their 
credit a much larger amount of effective work in languages, mathematics, science, 
and other subjects than they now have, and with a little more care in the selection of 
high-school teachers, * * * one or two full years might be gained. 

5. Only about one-fourth of the children now enter the high schools. In most States 
the compulsory-attendance period corresponds closely to that of the elementary school. 
Parents and children are thereby confirmed in the belief that the education of the 
elementary school is all that is needed. The break between the elementary school 
and the high school, coming at the end of the compulsory-attendance period, suggests 
quitting school and makes it easy. If the break came at the end of six years of elemen- 
tary school work, most of the children would at the end of the compulsory-attendance 
period already have been in high school two years, doing high-school work in the 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 103 

high-school way, under high-school conditions, with high-school teachers, in company 
with those children who would under present conditions enter and go through the high 
school, and many more children than now enter the high school at all would remain 
through the entire school-year period. 

6. In the larger cities the adoption of this plan would require 'more high-school 
buildings and fewer elementary-school buildings than the present plan. The larger 
number of high-school buildings would bring the high school closer to a large part 
of the school population. 

7. The division of the six years of high school into two sections of three years each 
would make a second differentiation and readjustment of work possible and easy. 

Reorganization on this plan necessarily involves a thorough and 
comprehensive reorganization of the courses of study in both elemen- 
tary and high schools. 

THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 

Of the five day high schools in San Francisco four are coeducational; 
one admits girls only. They are the Girls' High School, the Lowell 
High School, the Mission High School, the Polytechnic High School, 
and the High School of Commerce. 

The Girls' High School, the Lowell High School, and the Mission 
High School are modified academic schools, in which special emphasis 
is placed upon the academic courses. The Polytechnic High School 
is, as its name implies, a school offering courses in a variety of 
technical arts. The High School of Commerce, like the Polytechnic, 
is a specialized high school placing strong emphasis upon its business 
courses. 

When these schools were first established it was evidently intended 
that each should be limited to its own special field. But the schools 
of each type have been gradually encroaching upon the field of work 
covered by schools of other types until neither of them is now purely 
academic, purely technical, or purely commercial. The tendency of 
each school has been to extend its courses so as to make it cover a 
broader field of work than it was intended it should cover when the 
plan of special high schools was first agreed upon. This tendency 
should be encouraged to the end that each high school may ultimately 
be made a general-course high school, offering to its pupils a full com- 
plement of academic, commercial, and technical courses. The same 
policy should to some extent apply to the intermediate or junior high 
schools when they are formed, and practical courses in agriculture, 
horticulture, and floriculture should be offered in both junior and 
senior high schools. While the present plan of organization continues, 
prevocational courses should be offered in the higher grades of the 
elementary schools. 

EVENING SCHOOLS. 

San Francisco maintains both evening elementary schools and 
evening high schools. The school year for evening schools and day 
schools is the same. One corps of teachers is employed for the day 



104 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

schools and another for the evening schools. In these last two 
respects San Francisco differs from most American cities. While 
teachers in the day schools are not permitted to teach in the evening 
schools and the corps of evening-school teachers is therefore entirely 
different from the corps of day-school teachers, there is no director of 
evening schools and no distinct gronp of evening-school supervisors. 
Certain of the deputy superintendents are detailed to visit the evening 
schools and to inspect their work, but it is impossible to require the 
day-school staff of supervisors and deputy superintendents to super- 
vise both the day and evening school activities and at the same time 
do equally satisfactory work in both arms of the service. As a result, 
the supervision of the evening schools appears to be inadequate and 
the schools are not well organized. Other cities have met this situa- 
tion by appointing directors of evening schools, who are required to 
give their full time to the work of directing and supervising this 
important department of their public-school system. 

San Francisco ought to appoint such a director of evening schools, 
or, in the absence of such appointment, place the work under the 
direction and supervision of one of its deputy superintendents and 
require him to give his full time to evening school work. (For a fuller 
treatment of evening schools and their relation to the education of 
immigrants see Chapter XV.) 

THE MANUAL ARTS. 

Instruction in manual training for boys and in cooking for girls is 
given in some of the larger schools, especially in the intermediate 
schools, for the pupils of those schools. For pupils in the other 
schools work in these subjects is located in certain school buildings 
called " centers," to whrch pupils come for this work, which is given 
by special teachers of these subjects. Instruction in these subjects 
is given in one way or the other to practically all boys and girls of 
the seventh and eighth year grades. Sewing, when given at all, is 
taught by special arrangement and mostly by pupil teachers from 
the Lux School. The work in manual training is under the direction 
of a supervisor of manual training, who is held responsible for the 
management and supervision of his department. The work in home 
economics is likewise under the direction of a supervisor of home 
economics, who is held responsible for the supervision and manage- 
ment of her department. Both these departments need to be better 
organized and more fully supervised, and their work should be 
extended down into the lower grades until all pupils in the ele- 
mentary schools shall have some form of hand work. (For a fuller 
discussion of^the^work^of these departments see Chapters XII and 
XIII.) 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 105 

SPECIAL SCHOOLS. 

The remaining types of schools which have not yet been discussed 
come under the classification of special schools, of which San Fran- 
cisco has four, as follows: 

(1) A Deportment School (to use the language of the charter), called 
the Ethan Alien School. — This is a corrective or parental school of 
high class; the work being done therein is a credit to the board of 
education, the school officials, and to the principals and teachers in 
charge of the school. Whenever it shall be necessary to set up other 
schools of this type in San Francisco, the city will be fortunate, in- 
deed, if it can duplicate the splendid work now being done in the 
Ethan Allen School, and above all duplicate the fine spirit which now 
pervades that school. 

(2) Oral School for the Deaf. — San Francisco is likewise fortunate 
in the excellence of the work now being carried on in her Oral School 
for the Deaf. The work being done in this type of oral instruction 
at the Golden Gate School is of a superior order. 

(3) Open-air schools for tubercular children. — San Francisco has 
made a beginning in the establishment of schools for tubercular chil- 
dren, and as far as it has gone the city has done well. But San 
Francisco's health statistics show that there should be more of these 
schools established in order that all children tubercularly inclined 
shall be properly segregated in open-air schools, where they can be 
given proper care and attention under medical supervision. On 
account of the mild climate San Francisco could easily establish a 
large number of open-air schools for anemic children and at the same 
time maintain fresh-air rooms in every school building in the city. 
The buildings in which the schools for tubercular children are housed 
are unsatisfactory with regard to both their location and their sur- 
roundings. This is a matter which should receive the serious atten- 
tion of the school officials in cooperation with the health authorities 
of the city. 

(4) Schools for mental deviates. — San Francisco has just begun the 
establishment of schools of this type. The city has been fortunate 
in obtaining at the very beginning good teachers, specially prepared 
for this work, and the work of these schools is being conducted along 
proper lines. The segregation of the deviates into these special 
schools is accomplished under the able guidance of a member of the 
medical staff of one of the leading hospitals in the city, who is espe- 
cially interested in this type of humane education. 

SPECIAL SUPERVISORS. 

In addition to the above types of schools, San Francisco, has in her 
school organization the following departments of special work: 
(1) Drawing. (2) Music. (3) Home economics. (4) Manual train- 



106 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

ing. (5) Primary grades. (6) Physical education, athletics, social 
and lecture centers. 

Each of these departments has been placed in charge of a single 
supervisor or director, whose duty it is to manage, control, and super- 
vise the work in his department. But notwithstanding this assign- 
ment to work, it was apparent to all members of the survey staff 
that the supervisors are consciously or unconsciously restrained from 
accomplishing their best work because of the limitations placed upon 
them in the exercise of their authority, as noted elsewhere in this 
report. Among these limitations are the following: 

First. Under the dual plan of school control in San Francisco the 
supervisors do not have full power to require good work. It will 
be recalled that some of the supervisors take their instructions from 
the superintendent and his staff of deputies, while others look directly 
to the board of education or the chairmen of its committees for 
official direction. What is true of the supervisors is likewise true of 
the principals who, in many instances, look directly to the members 
of the board as their immediate official superiors. It will be seen 
from all this that as a result of this confusion of authority the work 
of the supervisors and directors of special subjects is made to suffer 
in the schools as a whole. Now, to be effective in his work, a super- 
vising principal not only must have special ability along his partic- 
ular line, and those personal qualities of head and heart so essential 
to good leadership, but he must have, in addition thereto, full 
authority and full power to enforce his requirement for good work 
upon those whom he is employed to direct. This principle is funda- 
mental in proper supervision, and unless it be recognized by the 
board and the superintendent, by principals and teachers, no super- 
visor can do his work happily or well. 

Second. While the right of a supervisor to direct his special work 
in the elementary schools is generally conceded in San Francisco, 
still his right to direct such work in the high-school department has 
not been recognized. It was apparent to members of the survey 
staff that some of the supervisors are so uncertain as to their author- 
ity on this point that they have failed to assume that the high-school 
department is a necessary and important part of their supervisory 
field; indeed some of the supervisors have been discouraged from so 
assuming. This state of affairs is due in large part to a spirit of 
aloofness which pervades the high schools themselves. This con- 
dition, however, is not so serious an obstacle that it can not be 
immediately removed through an official order assigning to both 
elementary and high school departments all supervisors whose 
special work touches these two departments. This spirit of aloof- 
ness, it should be observed, is not peculiar to San Francisco alone; 
it grows up unconsciously in every school system in the country 
unless it is constantly watched and counteracted by those in authority. 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 



107 



Third. A third reason why a supervisor can not do his most 
satisfactory work lies in the fact that the San Francisco field is too 
large a field for a single supervisor in any one department to hope 
to give definite and close supervision to all the work of that depart- 
ment. From the very nature of the case his supervision is obliged 
to be general in its character. This means that that type of intensive 
work on the part of a supervisor which is so essential to successful 
supervision is practically unknown in San Francisco. This situa- 
tion, however, can be remedied by assigning to each supervisor a 
staff of field assistants to aid him in his work and at the same time 
assigning to him an office clerk to relieve him of all the details of 
clerical work. 

NEED OF MORE SUPERVISION. 

Attention is called to the fact in this connection that San Francisco, 
when taken in comparison with other cities, is undersupervised. In 
1914 the city spent but 29 cents per pupil in average daily attendance 



Rochester 

Indianapolis 

Pittsburgh 

Salt Lake City 

Portland 

Los Angeles 

Boston 

St Louis 

Omaha 

Washington 
•Detroit 

Buffalo 

Cleveland 

Kansas City 

Jersey City 

Seattle 

St Paul 

Milwaukee 
*SAH FRAHCISCO 

Hew Orleans 

Baltimore 

AVERAGE 



$1.64 

1.59 

1.52 

1.46 

1.26 

1.21 

.88 

.86 

.84 

.78 

.74 

.65 

.59 

.58 

.46 

.43 

.42 

.32 

.29 

.21 

.14 

.80 



Figure 36.— Per capita cost of supervision of special subjects. 

for salaries and other expenses of supervision of special subjects in 
its schools. In that same year the following cities spent the amounts 
set opposite their names, as indicated in Table 57. See also Figure 36. 

Table 57. — Per capita cost of supervision of special subjects. 1 



1. Rochester $1. 64 

2. Indianapolis 1. 59 

3. Pittsburgh 1.52 

4. Salt Lake City 1.45 

5. Portland 1.26 

6. Los Angeles 1. 21 

7. Boston 88 

8. St. Louis 85 

9. Omaha 84 

10. Washington 78 

11. Detroit 74 



12. Buffalo $0.65 



.59 

58 

46 

43 

...... .42 

32 

29 

20. New Orleans 21 



13. Cleveland 

14. Kansas City 

15. Jersey City 

16. Seattle 

17. St. Paul..... 

18. Milwaukee 

19. SAN FRANCISCO 



21. Baltimore 

Average, $0.80. 



.14 



See footnote, p. 80. 



108 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

In view of this comparison San Francisco ought not to hesitate 
to increase the number of its special departments and at the same 
time to assign field assistants and clerical helpers to the heads of all 
departments created by the board. It is recommended that the 
following new special departments be created in addition to those 
already established. 

(a) A Department of Evening Schools and School Extension Work to include 
the following: Evening schools; social, civic, community, and lecture centers; day 
schools for adults; and vacation schools. 

(6) A Department of School Gardens and Nature Study and City Beautification to 
include supervision of the following: Instruction in school gardening; instruction in 
nature; agriculture. 

(c) A Department of Attendance to have charge of the following: Compulsory 
attendance; the issuance of child-labor certificates; the taking of the school census; 
the parental schools; and the juvenile-court schools. 

(d) A Department of Writing to have charge of the supervision of the subject of 
penmanship in both the high schools and the elementary schools. 

In the event of the above-named new departments being created, 
a reorganization of the work now being done in the present depart- 
ments would be necessary, and some of the duties now being per- 
formed by certain departments would need to be transferred to 
other departments. And, too, some of the existing departments 
would need to be so expanded as to make them cover a broader 
field of work than they are now covering. In the recommendations 
set forth below is indicated the number of new employees which the 
survey committee believes should be assigned to each department 
in order that the work may be done efficiently and economically. 
It is unwise economy, if not the very highest extravagance itself, to 
organize a department and then fail to equip it with sufficient help 
to enable it to obtain the full results for which it was organized. It 
is not expected that all these additional employees should be ap- 
pointed at once, but rather that they will be appointed from time 
to time as these departments under the direction of the superin- 
tendent of schools, following the wise policy of the board of educa- 
tion, may be so developed and strengthened as to enable them to 
do their proper work and to justify their establishment and the 
better organization and further direction and supervision recom- 
mended. 

It is further suggested in this connection that the heads of the 
several departments of special work shall hereafter be called " Direc- 
tors of Special Work," instead of supervisors; that there shall be 
assigned to each department a certain designated number of assist- 
ants to the director, who might be called "Supervisor," and whose 
duty it shall be to assist the director in the fieldwork of the depart- 
ment; and, lastly, that stenographer-clerks shall be assigned to the 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 109 

office of each, director in order that the director shall be relieved of 
all clerical work and have his time save*d for the more important 
constructive work of his department. 

REORGANIZATION OF SPECIAL DEPARTMENTS. 

The following recommendations are offered for the reorganization 
of the departments of special work. The staff suggested is in each 
case such as the survey committee believes to be necessary for the 
full efficiency of the department, with an attendance in the schools 
not much larger than the attendance now is. 

First: That the department of drawing shall hereafter be known 
as the " Department of Art Education," the staff of this department 
to consist of the following: One director of art education, five super- 
visors, one clerk. 

Second: That the department of music shall continue under its 
present title, the staff of the department to consist of the following: 
One director of musical education, five supervisors, one clerk. 

Third: That the department of home economics shall hereafter be 
called the " Department of Home Economics and Vocational Sub- 
jects for Girls, " the staff of the department to consist of the following: 
One director of home economics and vocational subjects for girls, 
four supervisors, one clerk. 

Fourth: That the department of manual training shall hereafter 
be called the "Department of Manual Arts and Vocational Subjects 
for Boys," the staff of the department to consist of the following: 
One director of manual arts and vocational subjects for boys, two 
supervisors of vocational education, one field worker in vocational 
guidance, one placement-secretary in vocational guidance, one 
clerk. 

In this connection attention is called to the fact that if San Fran- 
cisco wishes to participate in the distribution of the funds made 
available by the Federal Government through the enactment of the 
law for Federal aid to vocational education, the so-called Smith- 
Hughes Act, it will be necessary for the board of education to enlarge 
the work of the two departments of home economics and vocational 
subjects for girls and of manual arts and vocational subjects for 
hoys, so as to comply with the provisions of this act. 

Fifth: That the department of primary grades shall hereafter be 
called the " Department of Primary and Kindergarten Instruction;" 
the staff of the department to consist of the following; one director 
of primary and kindergarten instruction ; two supervisors of primary 
instruction; one supervisor of kindergarten instruction; one clerk. 

Sixth: That the department of physical education, athletics, 
social and lecture centers shall hereafter be called the " Department 



110 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

of Health ;" that all work connected with social and lecture centers 
shall be transferred to the department of evening schools and school 
extension work; and that the function of the department of health 
shall be enlarged so as to include supervision of the following: 

(a) Supervision of physical training and athletics in the high schools. 

(6) Supervision of physical training and athletics in the elementary schools. 

(c) Supervision of physical training and athletics in the evening schools. 

(d) Supervision of play grounds and recreational activities in all classes and types 
of schools, and in the city as well. 

(e) Supervision of schools for mental deviates. 

(/) Supervision of open-air schools; fresh-air schools; and schools for tubercular 
children. 

(g) Supervision of schools for deaf, blind, and crippled children. 

(h) Supervision of medical inspection and medical examination of children in at- 
tendance upon the public schools. 

(i) Supervision of school nurses. 

(j) Supervision of school clinics, such as dental, psychological, eye, tuberculosis. 

(h) Supervision of sanitation of school grounds and school buildings, and of lighting. 

(I) Supervision of the health of teachers. 

(m) Supervision of the health of janitors and others employees. 

This is a full program, but it is none too full for San Francisco to 
include in its department of health, a department whose work should 
be of such vital concern to the physical and mental well-being of 
the children of San Francisco as to demand that no expense be spared 
in making it a strong and powerful agency in the proper health 
training of the children in the public schools. Such organization 
of this department will make it necessary to transfer the control 
of the city playgrounds to the board of education, where it properly 
belongs, and to amend the charter so that the board of education 
may appoint its own school nurses and its own medical inspectors. 
The board of education now has the right to establish and maintain 
the school clinics called for in the above outline. 

To do the work of such a department properly, the board would 
need to include on the staff of the department of school health the 
following: One director of school health; one supervisor of physical 
training and athletics to have charge of the health training of the 
boys and girls in the high schools, in each of which there should be 
employed one male instructor for the boys and one female instructor 
for the girls; six supervisors of physical training and athletics in 
the elementary schools; one supervisor of play grounds; 10 full- 
time school physicians to have charge of the medical inspection 
and medical examination of all children in the public schools; 20 
full-time school nurses to do the follow-up work under the direction 
of the school physicians; a chief for each clinic; one clerk. 

The director of school health should be a physician of experience, 
of recognized skill and standing in his profession, and a man possess- 
ing those sympathetic qualities of head and heart necessary for a 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. Ill 

position which has to do so largely with the health of little children 
and of the youth of the community. 

Seventh: That a department of evening schools and school exten- 
sion work shall be established to have charge of the supervision of 
the evening schools; of all social, civic, community, and lecture cen- 
ter work; of all day schools for adults; of all summer-vacation schools; 
and of such other extensions of the school system as may be assigned 
from time to time. This department should be placed in charge of a 
director of evening schools and school extension work, one assistant 
director, and one clerk. 

Eighth: That a department of school gardens and nature study and 
agriculture and city beautification be established to have charge of 
the work of instruction in nature study, elementary science, school 
gardens, and agriculture. It is suggested that the staff of this depart- 
ment shall include the following: One director of school gardens and 
nature study and city beautification; a sufficient number of part-time 
garden teachers to be employed during the gardening season; and a 
part-time clerk to be shared with the director of writing. 

Ninth: That a department of attendance shall be established to 
have charge of the following: Compulsory attendance in the schools; 
the issuance of child-labor certificates; the taking of the school cen- 
sus; such parental and juvenile court schools as may be established 
under the authority of the board; and such other work as may prop- 
erly be assigned to this department. The staff of this department 
should consist of the following: One director of attendance; eight at- 
tendance officers, who should also be required to take the school cen- 
sus by school districts; and one clerk. 

Tenth: That a department of writing shall be established to have 
charge of the supervision of the teaching of writing in both the high 
schools and elementary schools, the staff of the department to con- 
sist of the following: One director of writing; five supervisors; one 
part-time clerk to be shared with the director of school gardens. 

STAFFS OF SPECIAL DEPARTMENTS. 

For clearness these recommendations are summarized as follows: 
Proposed Reorganization of the Department op Special Work. 

I. Department of Art Education. 
1. Director of Art Education. 

(a) Supervisors of Art Education. 
(6) Clerk to the Director. 
II. Department of Musical Education. 

1. Director of Musical Education, 
(a) Supervisors of Music. 
(6) Clerk to the Director of Musical Education. 



112 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

III. Department of Home Economics and Vocational Subjects for Girls. 

1. Director of Home Economics and Vocational Subjects for Girls. 

(a) Supervisors of Home Economics and Vocational Subjects for Girls. 
(6) Clerk to the Director of Home Economics and Vocational Subjects 
for Girls. 

IV. Department of Manual Arts and Vocational Subjects for Boys. 

1. Director of Manual Arts and Vocational Subjects for Boys. 

(a) Supervisors of Manual Arts. 

(b) Supervisors of Vocational Education. 

(c) Field Worker in Vocational Guidance. 

(d) Placement-Secretary in Vocational Guidance. 

(e) Clerk to the Director of Manual Arts and Vocational Subjects for 

Boys. 
V. Department of Primary and Kindergarten Instruction. 

1. Director of Primary and Kindergarten Instruction. 
(a) Supervisors of Primary Instruction. 
(6) Supervisor of Kindergarten Instruction, 
(c) Clerk to Director of Primary and Kindergarten Instruction. 
VI. Department of School Health. 

1. Director of School Health. 

(a) Supervisor of Physical Training and Athletics in the High Schools. 
(6) Supervisors of Physical Training and Athletics in the Elementary 
Schools. 

(c) Supervisor of Playgrounds. 

(d) School Physicians. 

(e) School Nurses. 

(/). Clerk to the Director of School Health. 
(g) Chief of each clinic established by the board. 
VII. Department of Evening Schools and School Extension Work. 

1. Director of Evening Schools and School Extension Work. 

(a) Clerk to the Director of Evening Schools and School Extension 
Work. 
VIII. Department of School Gardens, Nature Study, and Agriculture. 
(a) Part-time Garden Teachers. 
(6) Part-time Clerk. 
IX. Department of Attendance. 
„ 1. Director of Attendance. 

(a) Attendance Officers. 

(b) Clerk to Director of Attendance. 
X. Department of Writing. 

1. Director of Writing. 

(a) Supervisors of Writing. 
(&) Part-time Clerk. 

CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR OF BUILDINGS. 

In the preceding pages of this report attention has been called to the 
fact that the board of education in San Francisco is prohibited from 
erecting its own school buildings and from making repairs on the same, 
this work having been delegated in the charter to the board of public 
works, which is a coordinate branch of the city government. The 
board of education, however, does have the right to take the initiative 
in the matter of the purchase of school sites, the erection of school- 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 113 

houses, and the making of repairs on the same, in that the charter 
provides that the board of education may suggest to the board of 
public works the necessity of such work, and to ask that plans and 
specifications be submitted for the school board's approval or rejec- 
tion; and the board of public works is prohibited from proceeding 
with such plans until the same shall have been approved by the board 
of education. 

From the above it will be seen that the board of education is not 
required to set up a building department of its own, since all building 
and repair work is now done outside of its own organization. Indeed, 
it should be stated here that there can be no necessity for the creation 
of such a department so long as the present plan of school control 
continues. 

But it is the opinion of the survey committee that the present plan 
of school control in this respect is wrong in principle. It divides au- 
thority and responsibility in the administration of the building affairs 
of the school department. In other cities in which this plan has been 
tried it has not worked satisfactorily either to the school board or to 
the board with whom the responsibility has been shared. The plan 
may work well for a while, but it can hardly fail sooner or later to 
result in friction between the two boards. 

It is therefore recommended that the charter be so amended as to 
give the board of education of San Francisco the full control and 
management of all its building affairs. Should this amendment to the 
charter be made, then, of course, the board of education would be 
obliged to create a new department to have charge of buildings and 
grounds and all matters pertaining thereto, including supervision of 
the janitorial staff, and at the same time to place such department 
in charge of a technical expert to be under the direction of the superin- 
tendent of schools. Such technical expert should be assisted in his 
work by a sufficient number of office or other employees to meet the 
needs of the department. 

Again, in the management of the financial affairs of the public 
schools, the board of education is brought face to face with the ques- 
tion of dividing its authority and responsibility with still another 
branch of the city government, the board of supervisors of the city 
and county of San Francisco. 

THE SCHOOL BUDGET. 

It has already been pointed out that in the matter of providing for 
the school revenue, the board of education is limited to the taking of 
the initiative in the preparation of the school budget for any ensuing 
fiscal year; and the superintendent of schools has the same right, 
under the State school code, to submit, entirely independent of the 
93815—17 8 



114 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

board of education itself, a separate budget estimate to the board of 
supervisors. 

When these budgets are prepared, they are submitted to the board 
of supervisors, which has a right to revise the same up or down and fix 
the school levy as they may see fit. Thus again the board of educa- 
tion is prohibited by charter from performing a function which ought 
to belong to it, and to it alone — the duty of making its own school 
levy within the limitations prescribed by State law. It surely ought 
to be apparent to all that the board of education, on account of its 
intimate familiarity with the affairs of the public schools, is better 
prepared than any outside body to determine the amount of school 
revenue needed to maintain the schools at a high standard of efficiency. 
To deprive it of its real right in this particular and require that it shall 
submit a budget to a coordinate branch of the city government for its 
revision tends to reduce the board of education to a mere clerical 
body in one of the most vital questions with which the administration 
of the public schools is concerned. The board of education should 
have the power to make its own levy within the limitations imposed 
by State law, and should have full, complete, and independent 
management of all the financial affairs connected with the administra- 
tion of the public schools. The charter of the city and county should 
be revised so as to give the board this power. 

DIVIDED RESPONSIBILITY FOR ACCOUNTING. 

The board of education now depends wholly upon the accounting 
and auditing departments of the city and county government for 
detailed information with regard to the receipts and disbursements 
of the school revenues. This has a tendency to create an indifference 
on the part of the entire school establishment toward questions of 
accounting and of educational and financial statistics. It should be 
said, however, that both the accounting and the auditing work is 
well done by the city and county auditor and his staff of assistants. 
At the present time this department uses the plan of school account- 
ing suggested by the Federal Bureau of Education at Washington; so 
that hereafter financial reports of school receipts and expenditures in 
San Francisco can be compared, item by item, with all cities making 
similar reports to the National Government. 

However, no matter how well the work may be done by the audit- 
ing department of the city and county the department can not be 
expected to carry its accounting to that point of refinement which 
the board of education needs in connection with its administration 
of the school system. It is not the function of the auditor's office to 
perform this duty, nor should such detailed work be required of it. 
The auditor will of necessity classify his accounts along the broad 
lines controlling receipts and expenditures of the school revenues, 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 115 

his work being general in its intent and purpose; but if these general 
accounts are to be made available for the purpose of comparing one 
type of schools and school activities of San Francisco with another 
and for comparing costs in San Francisco with those of other cities, 
then it will be necessary for the board of education to make still 
further refinements in accounting in every branch of the service in 
which such comparisons are to be made. This work should be done 
not by the auditor but by the board itself. 

Boards of education quite generally throughout the country are 
placing larger and larger emphasis upon the work of their accounting 
and statistical departments. It is recommended that San Francisco 
take steps for the creation of such a department in the schools, the 
same to be placed in charge of a technical expert who shall be under 
the direction of the superintendent of schools. The head of this 
department should be responsible for the purchase and distribution 
of all supplies and equipment. He should have charge of all the 
business activities of the board other than those assigned to the head 
of the building and grounds department. There should, of course, be 
assigned to his office a sufficient number of office and other employees 
to permit him to do his work efficiently and well. 

DEPARTMENT OF SUPPLIES. 

It is refreshing to find that there is one department connected with 
the business affairs of the public schools in which the board of edu- 
cation has full authority in all matters pertaining thereto — the depart- 
ment of supplies — which, in the board's organization, is placed in 
charge of its committee on supplies. By provision of the charter the 
board of education has full and independent powers with regard to 
the matter of the purchase of all schoolroom supplies and of all fur- 
niture and new equipment placed in the schools. It also has charge 
of the repair of furniture, apparatus, and other equipment. The 
chairman of the supplies committee is the nominal head of the 
department. 

A general storekeeper is placed in charge of the store or warehouse, 
an unused school building set aside as a storage house for supplies. 
To f acilitate quick delivery of supplies, the building selected is located 
near the center of the city. The storekeeper has on his staff a book- 
keeper and other clerical assistants. He also has a number of helpers 
and laborers to aid him in handling the work of his department. 

A survey of the storeroom showed that the stock of supplies on 
hand was well taken care of and that the supplies were being handled 
in an orderly manner through proper requisitions made by the 
principals of the schools and by the heads of the several departments. 
No requisitions are filled except on the approval of the chairman of 
the committee on supplies. However, the chairman of the com- 



116 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO, 

mittee on supplies states that the board of education is handicapped 
in this department on account of lack of funds with which to purchase 
supplies in sufficient quantity to meet the just and proper demands 
of the schools. This feeling was likewise in evidence in all depart- 
ments of the schools themselves, and the shortage of supplemental 
textbooks, library books, apparatus, and even of the general supplies 
used in instruction was generally commented upon by teachers, prin- 
cipals, and heads of departments throughout the entire system. The 
board of education itself would no doubt remedy this matter if it had 
the authority to increase the amount set aside from year to year for 
this item in the budget. 

In addition to the above matters connected with the business 
organization of the schools, there remain two or three other topics of 
vital interest to the educational department of the schools which 
should not be omitted from this discussion: 

(a) The place of civic and social studies in the schools. 

(b) The place of a department of research and efficiency in the 

schools. 

(c) The place of a department of coaching teachers in the schools. 

SOCIAL PHASES OF EDUCATION. 

The trend of modern education is to emphasize the social phases 
of education, but such work, to be properly done in a school system, 
needs to be fully and comprehensively done, needs to be done in 
such a way that the whole field of instruction will be brought under 
the sweep of its influence. Social education concerns itself quite as 
much with the spirit as with the facts of instruction. The general 
supervision of this vitally important work should be placed in cul- 
tured, sympathetic hands, and it is therefore recommended that its 
organization and supervision be intrusted to a deputy superin- 
tendent who by taste and inclination is best fitted to supervise such 
work. (For a full discussion of this subject see Chapter IX.) 

It is further recommended that steps be taken at once looking 
toward the establishment of a department which will concern itself 
with work in the field of educational research and with a study of 
the proper use of efficiency standards in connection with every 
department of the school system, educational, business, and finan- 
cial. This work should be placed in charge of a deputy superin- 
tendent especially qualified and fitted to carry on such work. The 
importance of such a department in connection with the public 
schools can not be overestimated. 

Like most American cities, San Francisco finds itself facing the 
problem of retardation in the schools. With a view to improving 
the condition in this respect, a number of ungraded, or, more prop- 
erly speaking, coaching teachers, were appointed to positions in the 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 117 

schools some two or three years ago. But, later on, owing to finan- 
cial stress, the board found itself obliged to discontinue the services 
of these teachers, although at the time there was every evidence 
that they were fully justifying their appointment in reducing appre- 
ciably the amount of retardation in the several grades of the schools. 
Owing to the different capacities of children, and owing to the re- 
peated absence of many children on account of sickness or for other 
causes, there is an imperative need for just such a group of coaching 
teachers in every school system in the country, and San Francisco 
will do well to restore at an early date the plan which two or three 
years ago had been so wisely begun. It is recommended that San 
Francisco reestablish its coaching-teaching department, that it 
provide for the employment of at least 30 such teachers, and that 
this work be placed under the supervision and direction of one of the 
deputy superintendents. 

In this part of this report reference has been made to the neces- 
sity of San Francisco's introducing into the school system still other 
types of work which it is believed are needed for the good of the 
children, and it is here recommended that steps be taken for the 
introduction of the following: 

Oral hygiene, with a staff of dental operators under the director of 
health; a school or schools for blind children; a school or schools for 
crippled children; a policy looking toward a larger use of school 
buildings for social, civic, and community centers; a small group of 
traveling teachers to work with stammerers and all children who 
have speech difficulties — five teachers could do this work satis- 
factorily for the entire city; work in agriculture, school gardens, 
nature study, and city beautification throughout all the city 
schools; summer vacation schools; continuation schools for that 
group of children who have been so unfortunate as to have to 
leave school for economic or other causes; work in vocational 
guidance in the high schools, in the higher grades of the 
elementary schools, and in the continuation schools; a mental 
specialist who should be on the staff of the director of health and have 
supervision of the segregation of the mental deviates and all seri- 
ously retarded cases; and a Roentgen-ray clinic for the examination 
of incipient tuberculosis. This last should be in the department of 
health. 

OUTLINE OF PROPOSED ORGANIZATION. 

These recommendations are for an organization based upon a plan 
of unit control whereby the entire management of the public-school 
system of San Francisco shall be placed in the hands of a board of 
education, the members of which shall perform the duties of their 
office without compensation, giving both their time and their serv- 
ice as a freewill offering to the cause of public education in San 



118 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Francisco. This wilt require constitutional and charter amendments, 
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It is recommended: 

First. — That the school department of San Francisco shall be 
under the control and management of a board of education composed 
of nine members from the city at large, who shall be elected by the 
people ol the city and county of San Francisco or appointed by the 



ORGANIZATION" AND ADMINISTRATION. 119 

mayor and confirmed by the board of supervisors or appointed by 
the judges of the superior court, 1 and who shall give to the duties of 
their office such time as the business of the board may require ; that 
such board members shall perform their duties without compensa- 
tion; that they shall be not less than 30 years of age and shall have 
been residents of the city and county of San Francisco for at least 
five years prior to their appointment or election; that the board shall 
never be so constituted as to consist of more than four members of 
the same political party; that the term of office of the members shall 
be for six years ; and that those first appointed shall so classify them- 
selves by lot that they shall, respectively, go out of office as follows: 
Three members at the expiration of two years, three members at the 
expiration of four years, and three members at the expiration of six 
years. 

Second. — That the board of education shall organize by electing 
one of its own members president, who shall serve for one year and 
until his successor is elected; by electing, a secretary, who shall not 
be a member of the board, and who shall receive such annual salary 
as the board may determine; by creating two standing committees — 
one to be called the committee on business ; the other the committee 
on education — said committees to be composed of four members each, 
appointed by the president of the board, who shall be ex officio a 
member of each committee. The city treasurer and the city attorney 
should be the treasurer and the counsel of the board of education 
and should perform the duties of their positions without additional 
salary, and the board should have power to employ such clerical 
and other assistants as the above-named officers may need to enable 
them properly to perform such duties of their offices as relate to the 
business of the board of education. 

Third. — That the board of education shall hold regular monthly 
meetings and such other meetings as it may determine, and that it 
shall establish rules for its proceedings. These rules should require 
a concurrent vote of a majority of its members for the transaction of 
any business, and the ayes and noes should be recorded in the min- 
utes of the board on all questions where a power of the board is exer- 
cised under the charter or under State school laws. 

Fourth. — That the board of education, as a corporate body, shall 
have all the constitutional and statutory powers which are conferred 
upon similar corporate bodies by the constitution and general laws 
of the State of California. 

Fifth.- -Th&t in addition to the powers conferred by the general 
laws of the State, the board of education shall have full power within 

i The member of the survey staff employed to advise the commissioner of education on questions of 
school administration requested to be relieved from expressing an opinion on the method of creating th© 
board of education. 



120 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

the limits of the State laws to administer and conduct all the finan- 
cial, business, and educational affairs of the public-school system. 
Among these powers should be enumerated the following: 

1. Power to control and manage, through its proper officers, all the educational, 
business, and financial affairs of the school district, independent of all other depart- 
ments of the city government. This should include power to make the school budget 
and levy school taxes within the limits of the law, and power to issue bonds for school 
purposes within the limits of the law and in the manner prescribed by law. 

2. Power to legislate for the schools through the establishment of proper rules and 
regulations. 

3. Power to consider and determine all school policies, but no power to execute 
these policies except through experts employed by the board for that purpose. 

4. Power to elect a superintendent of schools as a technical expert and to confirm 
or reject that officer's recommendations for appointments in the education, the busi- 
ness, and the financial departments of the schools, and to hold the superintendent 
responsible for results. > 

5. Power to command results through a proper inspection of the work from time to 
time, and the power to dismiss the superintendent and any of his assistants in any 
branch of the service for malfeasance, incompetence, unfitness, or neglect of duty. 

6. Power to establish regulations for the disbursement of all moneys rightly com- 
ing under the board's control and to secure strict accountability in the expenditures 
thereof in connection with the county auditor's office and the board's supervision of 
the same. 

7. Power to create an accounting, statistical, and supplies department to have 
charge of the work of further detailing the accounts of the auditor with regard to both 
receipts and expenditures, so as to make such details available for study and com- 
parison, to the end that standards may be established, wise economies instituted, 
and a higher degree of efficiency produced in all the work under the control of the 
board. 

8. Power to purchase school sites and to conduct its own building operations, enter- 
ing into contract for the erection of new buildings and for the repair and remodeling 
of old buildings, and to create a department of buildings to have charge of this work 
under the direction of the superintendent of schools. 

9. Power to elect and fix the salary of the superintendent of schools, who shall be 
the chief executive officer of the board, and who, under the board, shall have charge 
and direction of all the employees and activities of the board connected with the edu- 
cational, financial, and business affairs of the schools. 

10. Power to confirm or reject nominations made by the superintendent of schools 
for appointment to positions in the educational, the financial, or the business depart- 
ments of the school system. No appointments should be made to any position under 
the superintendent except upon his initiative and written recommendation. 

11. Power to establish, organize, and maintain such classes and types of schools 
and departments of special work as the board may from time to time deem necessary 
for the full efficiency of the school system, and to change, modify, consolidate, or 
discontinue the same as the interests of the schools may require. 

12. Power, under the limitations of State law, to create and abolish positions in 
connection with the educational, the business, and the financial departments of the 
school system as the board may determine; to fix the salaries and compensation of 
all persons employed by the board, and to provide its own rules for the payment of 
the same. 

Sixth. — That the superintendent of schools to be elected by the 
board of education, reorganized as herein recommended, shall not be 



f 

ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 121 

selected from among the members of the board, and that he shall not 
be a member of the board. As the chief executive of the board, the 
superintendent should have charge of all the educational, financial, 
and business affairs of the schools. He should be required to enforce 
all provisions of the State school law and all rules, regulations, and 
orders relating to the management of the educational, financial, and 
business affairs of the schools, and should have, under the board, the 
supervision and direction of all officers, teachers, and other employees 
of the board and of their activities, including the supervision and 
direction of courses of study, promotion of pupils, and all matters 
pertaining to medical inspection, playgrounds, recreation and social 
centers, school gardens, libraries, and lectures connected with the 
schools. The superintendent should be required to attend all meet- 
ings of the board of education and should have a right to speak on all 
matters considered by it, but no right to vote. His term of office 
should be for a period of not less than four years and- at such salary 
as the board of education may determine. 

Seventh. — The board of education, on the written recommendation 
of the superintendent of schools, shall elect five deputy superintend- 
ents, who may be called assistant superintendents or associate su- 
perintendents, as the board may determine. That the board of 
education shall appoint one additional deputy superintendent for 
each 20,000 children in average daily attendance over and above the 
base number of 45,000 children; that one deputy shall be placed in 
charge of all activities comiected with the department of buildings 
and grounds ; that one deputy superintendent shall be placed in charge 
of the department of accounting, statistics, and supplies, and that 
the remaining deputy superintendents and such other deputy super- 
intendents as may hereafter be appointed shall be placed in charge 
of the educational activities of the schools, to be assigned to such 
administrative, professional, and supervisory work as the superin- 
tendent of schools may determine. (Some of these are indicated on 
pp. 93 and 125.) The term of office of the deputies should be for 
at least four years, at such salary as the board may determine. 

Eighth. — That the following classes of employees necessary to a 
proper carrying on of the work in all departments of the public-school 
system shall be elected by the board on the initiative and written 
recommendation of the superintendent of schools: Directors of spe- 
cial departments or of special work, supervisors of special work, 
principals of schools, teachers, medical inspectors, school nurses, 
attendance officers, accountants, clerks, bookkeepers, engineers, jani- 
tors, and all other persons under the direction of the superintendent 
of schools. 

Ninth. — That the board of education shall have the right to dismiss 
any school officer or other employee for insubordination, immoral or 



122 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

unprofessional conduct, provided the charges against any officer or 
employee shall first be formally presented to the -board by the super- 
intendent of schools after due investigation; and provided further, 
that these charges shall be passed upon finally by the board of edu- 
cation after due hearing. The board shall also have the right, on the 
written recommendation of the superintendent of schools, to dismiss 
any officer or employee for evident unfitness to perform the duties 
of his office or position, and such a dismissal may be made without 
a hearing. 1 

If the school laws will not permit the board of education to take 
action in the type of cases last named above, then the laws should be 
so amended as to permit the board to dismiss for pedagogical incom- 
petence and unfitness without granting a hearing. Obviously, the 
facts involved are of a nature which can not be subjected to the 
processes of hearing; and therefore the courts have decided that 
boards of education have full authority to dismiss for pedagogical 
incompetence and inefficiency without according the dismissed party 
a hearing, the courts holding that a hearing is without avail, since 
in the end the judgment of the board's experts must prevail. 2 

Tenth. — That standards of qualifications to be required of candi- 
dates for examination for positions in the educational departments 
of the schools, and a detailed specification as to requirements for the 
several educational positions in the schools, shall be adopted by the 
board of education on the recommendation of the superintendent, 
and when adopted shall become a part of the rules and regulations 
of the board. 

Eleventh. — That the board of education shall create a board of 
examiners whose function it shall be to examine and certificate all 
teachers and other persons in the educational department of the 
schools who are required by State law to be holders of proper certifi- 
cates before they shall be elected to positions in the public schools 
of the State. The said board of examiners should be composed of 
the superintendent of schools and his deputy superintendents of 
schools. 

Twelfth. — That the superintendent of schools shall establish 
eligible lists of teachers from which appointments should be made in 
accordance with the rules and regulations of the board of education. 

Thirteenth. — That the board of education shall, upon the recom- 
mendation of the superintendent and subject to the limitations of 

1 Probably few cases will arise in which it will become necessary to dismiss employees for unfitness during 
the progress of the school year, and the school law of California provides (sec. 1617 (b) ) that no board of 
education shall enter into any contract with any employee for a period extending beyond the close of the 
next ensuing school year, and that a teacher is to be deemed reelected for the next ensuing school year only 
when the board or the governing body of the school district fails to notify such teacher on or before the 
10th day of June that his services will not be required for the ensuing school year. 

2 See case of Mary E. Nalle v. James F. Oyster et a!., pp. 826-827, vol. 38, Washington Law Reporter; 
decision rendered by Justice Van Orsdell, court of appeals. A similar decision was rendered in the case of 
W. B. Evans v. Henry P. Blair et el., Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. " 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 123 

the laws of the State, adopt a definite policy in regard to the election, 
term of office, promotion, and assignment of duties of teachers and 
other employees of the board. This policy should provide for a 
probationary period for employees of sufficient length to test their 
ability; for such permanency and security of tenure as will encourage 
a wholesome degree of independence and freedom of initiative; for 
the recognition of professional ability and faithful service in promo- 
tion, and for the elimination of employees who have become incapa- 
ble of the proper performance of their duties. All employees should 
be subject to assignment to duty by the superintendent of schools, 
and all assignments made by him should be reported to the board 
for record. 

SUMMARY. 

The public schools of San Francisco can not be happily or success- 
fully administered until the present method of administration makes 
way for a plan of control which will permit the educational forces of 
the city to do their work properly, efficiently, and well. The recom- 
mendations which have been discussed in this chapter are here brought 
together in brief summary. 

Changes in State constitution and city charter. — The State constitu- 
tion of California should be amended so as to relieve the county of 
San Francisco from the obligation of electing a county superintend- 
ent of schools. 

The charter of San Francisco should be amended to provide for 
the creation of a board of education which should be independent of 
all other branches of the city government, and which should have 
the full control and management, through its superintendent of 
schools and his assistants, of all matters relating to public-school 
affairs in San Francisco in the educational, business, and financial 
departments of the school system, the members of the board to 
serve without compensation. 

The proposed amendment should include, among others, a pro- 
vision empowering the board of education to make its budget and to 
determine the amount of the school-tax levy under the limitation of 
the State law. 

The charter of San Francisco should be amended, further, to estab- 
lish beyond question the proper relation between the board of edu- 
cation and the superintendent of schools, as its technical expert, and 
all of the board's employees under him. The proposed amendment 
should make it clear that the board of education must not attempt to 
perform directly the duties of carrying on the school system, but that 
they must employ technically trained officers for this purpose. This 
function of the board of education should be considered as analogous 
to that of the board of directors of a business corporation. 



124 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

The task of amending the charter and reorganizing the public- 
school system should be undertaken independently of personal con- 
siderations or expediency, and solely in the light of fundamentally 
sound principles of organization and administration. 

General. — The board of education as a corporate body should have 
all the constitutional and statutory powers which are conferred upon 
similar corporate bodies by the constitution and the general laws of 
the State of California. 

The charter should be amended to permit the tax levy to exceed 
the minimum tax provided by State law under the discretion of the 
board of education in the meeting of proper emergencies. 

If the proposed reorganization of the school system is effected, it 
will be necessary to create a new department to have charge of build- 
ings and grounds (including planning, erection, maintenance, and 
repair) and supervision of the engineer and janitorial staff. 

The board of education should reorganize its system of accounting 
to correspond with the increased responsibilities with which it will be 
charged under the new plan, as proposed, by creating a department 
of accounting and statistics, which should also be responsible for 
purchasing and distributing equipment and supplies. At the head of 
this department should be placed a technically trained expert, who 
should act under the direction of the superintendent of schools, and 
who should be one of the deputy superintendents. 

All playground work and all recreational activities under public 
auspices in the city are educational in their intent and purpose, and 
should be under the full control of the board of education. 

The official proceedings of the board of education should be pub- 
lished and made available for the inspection and reference of all 
officers and heads of departments of the school system and for the 
information of the public. 

The hoard of education. — Members of the board of education, nine 
in number, representing the city at large, should be elected by the 
people of the City and County of San Francisco, or appointed by the 
mayor and confirmed by the board of supervisors, or appointed by 
the judges of the superior court, should serve without compensation, 
and should give to the duties of their office such time as the business 
of the board of education may require. Members of the board should 
be not less than 30 years of age and should have been residents of 
the City and County of San Francisco for at least five years prior 
to their appointment. 

The board should never be so constituted as to consist of more than 
four members of the same political party. The term of office of 
members of the board should be for six years, three members being 
appointed every two years after the first organization. 

The board should organize by electing one of its members president, 
by electing a paid secretary, who shall not be a member, and by creat- 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 125 

ing two standing committees, of four members each, one on business 
and one on education. The board should have the power to employ 
such clerical and other assistants as may be necessary. 

The board should hold regular meetings once each month, and at 
such other times as it may determine 5 it should establish rules for its 
proceedings, but the concurrent vote of a majority of the members of 
the board should be necessary to transact business; the ayes and noes 
should be recorded in the minutes of the board on all questions where 
a power of the board is exercised under the charter or under the 
State school laws. 

The board of education should elect a superintendent of schools 
and determine the amount of his salary. The term of office of the 
superintendent should be for at least four years, and his duties and 
relationship to the board and to the schools and to the other employees 
of the board should follow the plan outlined in this report. 

The board should elect five deputy superintendents on the written 
recommendation of the superintendent, and one additional deputy 
superintendent for each 20,000 pupils in average daily attendance 
over and above the base number of 45,000 pupils. One deputy 
should be placed in charge of all activities connected with the depart- 
ment of buildings and grounds ; one deputy should be placed in charge 
of the department of accounting, statistics, and supplies; the remain- 
ing deputies should be assigned to such administrative, professional, 
and supervisory work as the superintendent may determine. The 
term of office of the deputy superintendents should be for at least 
four years, and they should receive such salary as the board of educa- 
tion may determine. 

All other persons in the employ of the board of education, in such 
numbers as may be necessary to a proper carrying on of the work in 
all departments of the public school system, should be elected by the 
board, on the initiative and written recommendation of the superin- 
tendent of schools. 

The board of education should have the right to dismiss any school 
officer or any other employee of the board for insubordination or 
immoral or unprofessional conduct, provided the charges against such 
officer or employee shall first be formally presented to the board by 
the superintendent of schools, after due investigation, and provided 
further that such charges shall be passed upon finally by the board 
after due hearing. The board should also have the right, on the writ- 
ten recommendation of the superintendent of schools, to dismiss 
without a hearing any school officer or other employee for evident 
unfitness to perform the duties of his office or position. 

The board of education should have the power to establish, organ- 
ize, and maintain such classes and types of schools and departments 
of special work as it may deem necessary, and to change, modify, 



126 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

consolidate, or discontinue the same as the interests of the public 
school system may require. 

The board of education should have the power to create or abolish 
positions in connection with the educational, business, and financial 
departments of the school system as it may determine under the 
limitations of the State law, and to fill such positions on the initiative 
and written recommendation of the superintendent of schools. 

The superintendent of schools. — The superintendent of schools 
should be definitely and officially recognized as the technical expert 
of the board of education, employed by the board as its adviser and 
chief executive officer, and charged with complete control of and 
responsibility for the conduct of the school system under the board 
and for carrying out the policies determined upon by the board. 

Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the 
board of education should adopt such rules as may be necessary to 
define clearly the status of deputy superintendents, directors of 
special subjects, and other representatives of the superintendent, in 
order that there may be recognition of their authority to enforce 
proper standards of work throughout the schools from all supervisors, 
principals, and teachers. 

The superintendent of schools should be free to determine the 
assignment of duties among his deputies and other assistants as the 
best interests of the service may require from time to time. 

New activities. — The board of education, in accordance with plans 
prepared by the superintendent of schools, should provide for the 
introduction or further extension of those newer types of public- 
school activities which have not yet received full practical recognition 
in San Francisco, including kindergartens, departmental reoganiza- 
tion of the last six years of the course, revision of courses of study, 
manual training, home economics, schools for special classes of 
pupils, open-air classes, vocational classes, the social phases of educa- 
tion, and a department of research and efficiency. 

The following new special departments should be created: (1) 
Evening schools and school extension, in which should be included 
also the social and lecture center activities now carried on in con- 
nection with physical education and school athletics; (2) school 
gardens, nature study, agriculture, and city beautification ; (3) 
attendance, which should have charge of enforcement of compulsory- 
attendance laws, issuance of child-labor certificates, taking of the 
school census, supervision of parental schools and juvenile court 
schools; (4) writing. The functions and activities of these depart- 
ments as proposed are outlined in the report. 

Existing special departments should be continued or reorganized, 
as follows: (1) The department of drawing, to be called the "Depart- 
ment of Art Education"; (2) the department of music, as now; (3) 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 127 

the department of home economics, to be called the "Department of 
Home Economics and Vocational Subjects for Girls" ; (4) the depart- 
ment of manual training, to be called the " Department of Manual 
Training and Vocational Subjects for Boys"; (5) the department of 
primary grades, to be called the " Department of Primary and 
Kindergarten Instruction"; (6) the department of physical educa- 
tion, athletics, social and lecture centers, to be called the "Depart- 
ment of Health." Activities of the social and lecture centers should 
be transferred to the new department of evening schools and school 
extension. The function of the new department of health should 
be enlarged so as to include supervision and direction of the following : 
Physical training, athletics, playgrounds, and recreational activities 
in day, evening, and vacation schools of all classes and types, and in 
the city as well; schools for mental deviates; open-air schools, fresh- 
air schools, and schools for the tuberculous; schools for deaf, blind, 
and crippled children; medical inspection and medical examination 
of children in the schools; school nurses. 

The functions and activities of the departments referred to in the 
preceding paragraphs are outlined in the report. Each of these 
departments should have at its head a capable, technically trained 
officer, called director, who should be given such technical assistants. 
called supervisors, and such clerical assistants, as may be necessary 
for the effective performance of the duties assigned. An outline of 
the personnel suggested for these staffs is presented in the report. 

Efficiency of the staff. — The board of education should have the 
right, on the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, to 
set the standard of qualifications to be required of those seeking 
positions in the educational department, and to. refuse to admit to 
examination any person who does not fully meet the requirements 
established. 

The board of education should create a board of examiners, con- 
sisting of the superintendent of schools and his deputies, the function 
of which should be to examine and certificate all employees who are 
required by law to be holders of proper certificates before being 
eligible to employment in the school system. 

The superintendent of schools should establish eligible fists of 
teachers according to rules and regulations of the board of education. 

A plan of tenure of office of employees on the educational staff 
should be adopted by the board of education, upon the recommenda- 
tion of the superintendent. 

The superintendent of schools should have the authority to recom- 
mend, and the board of education should have the power to confirm, 
the appointments of persons best qualified for the service to be per- 
formed, irrespective of the places of residence of appointees. 



128 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

A record of the efficiency ratings of all employees should be kept 
on file in the office of the superintendent of schools. 

Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the 
board of education should make full use of the State law providing 
for those employees who, on account of long service or advanced 
years, have reached a state when they should be retired from the 
schools. 

The superintendent of schools with his staff of deputies and special 
directors should provide that educational and inspirational leader- 
ship which will insure the continued training and professional advaD ce- 
ment of teachers and other employees while in the service. 



Chapter IV. 

THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 



San Francisco derives its moneys for the support of its public school 
system from two classes of receipts, revenue receipts and nonrevenue 
receipts. 

The board of education derives its revenue receipts from the fol- 
lowing sources: 

(1) From the apportionment of State school funds distributed at 
stated times in the year by the State superintendent of public in- 
struction. 

(2) From moneys raised by direct taxation on all the assessable 
property in the school district through a tax levy made by the board 
of supervisors of the city and county of San Francisco. 

(3) From rentals of property owned by the board of education. 

(4) From interest on school moneys deposited in banks. 

The board of education derives its nonrevenue receipts from the 
following-named sources : 

(1) From the sale of school bonds which it is authorized to issue 
on the vote of the qualified electors of the school district under the 
limitations of State law. 

(2) From the sale of property and from proceeds due to insurance 
adjustment. 

(3) And from other nonrevenue sources not included in the above. 
The following summary of receipts, classified as above, for the nine 

years, 1908 to 1916, inclusive, has been compiled by an expert ac- 
countant directly from the auditor's books in San Francisco. 

Table 58. — Revenue receipts. Showing amount of moneys received from (1) the State 
school fund, (2) local taxes, (3) rentals, (4) other sources (interest), for the years 1908 to 
1916, inclusive. 



Years. 



State 
funds. 


Local 
taxes. 


Rentals. 


Other 

sources 

(interest). 


$564,804 


$1,009,627 


$477 





674,194 


1,120,599 


49,324 


$33,925 


615,536 


1,266,929 


50,322 


9,170 


737,038 


1,208,492 


50,888 


20,900 


586,215 


1,384,933 


52,854 


5,686 


670,762 


1,533,125 


54,222 


4,593 


694,431 


1,686,712 


97,631 


9,520 


662,412 


1,781,447 


97,441 


260 


718,456 


1,933,507 


98,143 


73 



Total. 



1908 
1909 
1910 
1911 
1912 
1913 
1914 
1915 
1916 



93815—17- 



$1,574,908 
1,878,042 
1,941,957 
2,017,318 
2,029,688 
2,262,702 
2,488,194 
2,541,560 
2,750,179 



129 



130 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 



Table 59. — Nonrevenue receipts. Showing amount of moneys received from (1) sale of 
bonds, (2) sale of property and from insurance adjustments, (3) other nonrevenue sources, 
for the years 1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 


Sale of 
school 
bonds. 


Property- 
sales and 
insurance 
adjust- 
ments. 


Other 

nonrevenue 

sources. 


Total. 


1908 




$2,170,723 

961,470 

1,125,828 

714,688 

607,218 

852, 121 

1,500 

8,300 


S3. 486 
805 
300 
553 
100 
568 
173 
164 



$28,849 
15, 072 
456 
693 
590 
550 
711 
509 
646 


$31,975 
2,186,600 

962,226 
1,127,074 

715,378 

608,336 


1909 


1910 


1911 


1912 


1913 


1914 


853,005 
2, 173 
8,946 


1915 


1916 





Table 60. — Summary of Tables No. 58 and No. 59. Showing (1) total revenue re- 
ceipts, (2) total nonrevenue receipts, (8) grand total of revenue and nonrevenue receipts, 
for the years 1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 



1908. 
1909. 
1910. 
1911. 
1912. 
1913. 
1914. 
1915. 
1916. 



Total 


Total 


revenue 


nonrevenue 


receipts. 


receipts. 


$1,574,908 


$31,975 


1,878,042 


2,186,600 


1,941,957 


962,226 


2,017,318 


1,127,074 


2,029,688 


715,378 


2,262,702 


608,336 


2,488,194 


853,005 


2,541,560 


2,173 


2, 750, 179 


8,946 



Grand total 
revenue 
and non- 
revenue 
receipts. 



606,883 
0b4,642 
904,183 
144,392 
745,066 
871,038 
341,199 
543,733 
759,125 



Table 61. — Showing (1) number of pupils in average daily attendance at all schools, (2) 
number of teachers employed, (3) average attendance of pupils per teacher, (4) number 
school buildings in use, (5) average attendance of pupils per school, for the years 1908 to 
1916, inclusive. 



Years. 



Pupils in 
average 

daily 
attendance 

at all 
schools. 



Teachers 

em- 
ployed. 



Average 
attendance 

of pupils 
per teacher. 



School 

buildings 

used. 



Average 
attend- 
ance per 
school. 



1908 
1909 
1910 
1911 
1912 
1913 
1914 
1915 
1916 



33,931 
35, 541 
36, 774 
37, 736 
40,448 
42,830 
44,388 
46, 562 
46, 862 



1,095 
1,195 
1,198 
1,227 
1,308 
1,423 
1,478 
1,485 
1,520 



30.9 

29.7 

30.7 

30.7 

30.9 

30 

30 

31.3 

30.8 



92 
95 
100 
105 
105 
104 
104 
105 



381.2 

386.3 

387 

377.3 

385.2 

407.8 

426.8 

447.7 

445.9 



A study of Table 58 (revenue receipts) reveals the fact that with- 
in the period of the nine years listed in the table the amount of money 
apportioned to San Francisco from State school funds reached its 
highest point in the year 1911, $737,038; that in 1912 there was a 
decrease from the preceding year of $150^823; and that after that 



THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 131 

year there was a gradual increase each year until the $700,000 mark 
was again passed in 1916, the exact amount received in that year 
being $718,456. This indicates that the State of California is doing 
its share in the support of the public school system of the State. 

This table on revenue receipts also shows that the amount of 
moneys received from local taxes increased from $1,009,627 in the 
year 1908 to $1,933,507 in the year 1916, nearly $1,000,000, or 
91.4 per cent, in a period of less than 10 years; that rentals in^ 
creased from practically nothing in 1908 ($477) to $98,143 in 1916. 
This is due to the fact that San Francisco has some very valuable 
property in the heart of the city which has increased not only in 
property value but in rental value as well. The highest amount 
received in any one year for interest on money on deposit was re- 
ceived in the year 1909, and the second highest in 1911. This was 
due to large issues of bonds in these years. It should be noted fur- 
ther that the total amount received from revenue receipts gradually 
grew from $1,574,908 in the year 1908 to $2,750,179 in the year 1916, 
an increase of 74.6 per cent. 

A study of Table 59 (nonrevenue receipts) shows that for the nine 
years listed in the table San Francisco issued school bonds (for the 
erection of new school buildings, in the main) to the total amount of 
$6,441,848. No issue of jDonds was made in 1908, but an issue of 
$2,170,723 was made in 1909; an issue of $961,470 was made in 1910, 
and an issue of $1,125,828 in the year 1911. This was followed by 
issues of $714,688 in the year 1912, of $607,218 in the year 1913, and 
of $852,121 in the year 1914. The sale of bonds for the years 1915 
and 1916 was negligible. 

These bond issues, covering in all a period of 6 years (from 1909 to 
1914, inclusive), tell the story of the disaster of the Great Fire in San 
Francisco and her successful and triumphant effort at a full and 
complete recovery from the same. But as a result of the stress and 
struggle quickly to recover from the great disaster, the city now 
finds itself at the point where the question of a further issuance of 
school bonds is in danger of being stopped because San Francisco is 
approaching the limit in the amount of bonds (that is, in the total 
of both school and municipal bonds) which cities of her class are per- 
mitted to issue under the State laws of California. This is a ques- 
tion which will require careful handling on the part of the board of 
education on the one hand and of the city government on the other 
in order that the forward progress of the schools with regard to the 
construction of necessary school buildings shall not be retarded. 
The demands soon to be made upon the board of education with 
regard to a comprehensive building program will be imperative. 
There is needed even now funds for the construction of necessary 
schoolhouses to provide for the increased growth of the schools 



132 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

and to replace certain undesirable buildings now in use, which can 
only be procured through the further issuance of school bonds. 

It must be further noted in this connection that as a result of its 
bonded indebtedness the school district of San Francisco is at the 
present time paying out each year interest on bonds to an amount 
approximating $300,000, the exact amount of interest in 1914 being 
$284,920; in 1915, $296,197; in 1916, $285,074. Since interest must 
be paid out of current funds, the board of education, therefore, must 
include its "bond interest" item in the estimate of school expendi- 
tures for each fiscal year. Thus it has resulted that the board of 
supervisors in setting the school levy has been obliged to exceed 
the limit of the tax rate as set in the city and county charter in order 
to procure sufficient revenue to support the schools. This the board 
of supervisors has assumed it has a right to do under an emergency 
clause in the charter and under the implied power granted to the 
supervisors under a State law which permits a higher rate to be 
levied than that set in the city charter itself. 

The above situation has resulted in an unfortunate discussion 
with regard to the taxing power of the supervisors of San Francisco 
in connection with the setting of the school levy. The situation 
created by the charter is fair neither to the board of education nor 
to the board of supervisors of the city and county of San Francisco. 
It can be remedied by an amendment to the charter which will per- 
mit the levying of the minimum tax permitted by State law, and at 
the same time be made flexible enough to permit the taxing power 
to go beyond this amount under the discretion of the board of edu- 
cation in the meeting of proper emergencies. Such an amendment 
to the charter is recommended elsewhere in this report. 

In connection with the above discussion of the school revenues, 
and particularly with regard to the matter of their gradual increase 
from year to year, attention is directed to Table 61, which shows 
that the number of children in average daily attendance upon the 
public schools of San Francisco in 1908 was 33,931, while in 1916 it 
was 46,862, an increase of 12,931 children, or 38.1 per cent. This 
increased attendance has called for an increase in the number of 
teachers, and hence an increased payroll for the same, as is shown 
by the fact that the number of teachers in the year 1908 was 1,095, 
while in the year 1916 it was 1,520 an increase of 38.8 per cent. 
Again, the number of school buildings maintained and supported in 
in 1908 was 89; in 1916 it was 105, an increase of 17.9 per cent. 

These and other statistics, taken in connection with the gradual 
increase in the school budget, emphasize the fact that the growth of 
the budget has no more than kept pace with the increase in number 
of children to be educated. During this period school expenditures 
in the country as a whole have increased much more rapidly than the 
number of children. The school budget increase is due to increase 



THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS, 133 

in the school attendance, increase in the number of teachers, increase 
in the number of new schoolbuildings, increase in the amount of 
interest paid out on account of new bond issues, increase in teachers' 
salaries, to the necessity of spending a large amount each year upon 
the repair and upkeep of buildings and grounds (this item alone has 
averaged about $125,000 for each of the nine years named above), 
and to other necessary expenditures. There is no indication of 
extravagance. The board of education within these years appears 
to have expended the school revenues wisely, and there is now need 
of large increase in these revenues to enable the board to round out 
an educational and building program which will give San Francisco 
the type of public-school system to which its people are justly en- 
titled. 

The next question which naturally will be asked is, How did the 
board of education spend its revenues in each of the nine years 
named above? The tables setting forth the expenses of the school 
department for the years 1908 to 19 16, inclusive (p. 129 ff), will be help- 
ful in the consideration of this question. These tables are based on 
the system of accounting recommended by the United States Bureau 
of Education which is now being generally adopted, an outline of 
which follows: 

CLASSIFICATION OF SCHOOL ACCOUNTS. 

[Note. —The Arabic numerals used below number different accounts, and run from No. 1 to No. 67, 

consecutively.] 

(A)— Expenses op General Control (Overhead Charges), Including 

Expenses op — 
• I. Business Administration. 

(1) School elections. 

(2) Board of education and secretary's office. 

(3) Finance offices and accounts. 

(4) Offices in charge of buildings and supplies. 

(5) Legal services. 

(6) Operation and maintenance of office buildings in which the board of 

education meets. 

(7) Other expenses of business control. 
II. Educational Administration. 

(8) Office of superintendent of schools. 

(9) Enforcement of compulsory education, truancy laws, and census enume- 

ration. 

(10) Other expenses of educational control. 

Total expenses of general control. 

(B) — Expenses of Instruction Day Schools, Including Expenses of — 

I. Supervision of Day Schools. 

(11) Salaries of supervisors of grades and of subjects. 

(12) Other expenses of supervision, including clerks, office supplies, etc. 

(13) Salaries of principals. 

(14) Salaries of principals' clerks and office assistants. 

(15) Other expenses of principal's office. 

(16) Other expenses of supervision. 



134 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

II. Teaching. 

(17) Salaries of teachers. 

(18) Textbooks. 

(19) Other supplies used in instruction. 

(20) Other expenses of instruction. 

Total expenses of instruction for day schools. 

(C)-t-Expenses of Instruction in Night Schools. 

I. Supervision. 

(21) Salaries of supervisors of grades and subjects. 

(22) Other expenses of supervisors, including clerks, office supplies, etc. 

(23) Salaries of principals. 

(24) Salaries of principals' clerks and office assistants. 

(25) Other expenses of principals' office. 

(26) Other expenses of supervision. 
II. Teaching. 

(27) Salaries of teachers. 

(28) Textbooks. 

(29) Other supplies used in instruction. 

(30) Other expenses of instruction. 

Total expenses for night schools. 

Total expenses instruction both day and night schools. 

(D) — Expenses of Operation of School Plant, Including Expenses of— 

(31) Wages of janitors and other employees. 

(32) Fuel. 

(33) Water. 

(34) Light and power. 

(35) Janitors' supplies. 

(36) Other expenses of operation of plant. 

Total expenses of operation of plant. 

(E) — Expenses of Maintenance of School Plant, Including Expenses of — 

(37) Repair of buildings and upkeep of grounds. 

(38) Repair and replacement of equipment. 

(39) Other expenses of maintenance of school plant. 

Total expense of maintenance of plant. 

(F)— Expenses of Auxiliary Agencies and Sundry Activities, Including 

Expenses of — 

(40) Libraries (excluding books). 

(41) Books. 

(42) Promotion of health, including medical inspection, school nurses, 

special clinics, etc. 

(43) Transportation of pupils. 

(44) Care of children in institutions. 

(45) Provision of lunches. 

(46) Community lecturers. 

(47) Social centers. 

(48) Recreation. 

(49) Other auxiliary agencies and sundry activities. 

(50) Payments to private schools. 

(51) Payments to schools of other civil institutions. 

Total expenditures for auxiliary agencies. 



THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 



135 



(G) — Expenses of Fixed Charges, Including Expenses of — 

(52) Pensions, or "retirement salaries." 

(53) Rents. 

(54) Insurance. 

(55) Taxes. 

(56) Contributions and contingencies. 

Total expenses of fixed charges. 

Total current expenses, including all of above subtotals under 
headings numbered (A); (B); (C); (D); (E); (F); (G). 

(H) — Expenses of Debt Service, Including Expenses of— 

(57) Redemption of bonds. 

(58) Payments to sinking fund. 

(59) Redemption of short-term loans. 

(60) Payment of interest on bonds. 

(61) Payment of interest on short-term loans. 

(62) Refunds (tax and tuition). 

Total expenses of debt service. 

(I) — Expenditures in Capital Outlay (Acquisition and Construction), Including 

Expenditures for — 

(63) Land for school sites or playgrounds. 

(64) New buildings constructed. 

(65) Alterations of or additions to old buildings. 

(66) Equipment of new buildings and grounds. 

(67) Equipment of old buildings and grounds. 

Total expenditures in capital outlay. 
Total payments for the year. 
Balances at the close of the year. 
Total payments and balances. 

The statistics in these tables were compiled from the books in the 
office of the city auditor in San Francisco, and have been recast for 
the purpose of making them conform to the plan of school accounting 
set forth above. 



Table 62. — Expenditures for conducting the schools in (A) general control, (B, C) 
instruction, (D) operation of school plant, for the years 1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 


General 
control 
(over- 
head). 


Instruc- 
tion (day 
and night 
schools). 


Operation 

of school 

plant. 


Years. 


General 
control 
(over- 
head). 


Instruc- 
tion (day 
and night 
schools). 


Operation 

of school 

plant. 


1908 


$73,981 
64,296 
65, 896 
68, 139 
68, 126 


$1,245,938 
1,364,525 
1,353,016 
1,462,830 
1,518,315 


$87,260 
95,541 
100,722 
112,467 
132,250 


1913 


$62,651 
61 668 
62,772 

66, 198 


$1,554,002 
1,623,164 
1,674,572 
1,783,674 


$140,387 
135,692 


1909 


1914 


1910 


1915 


170,875 


1911 


1916 


164,632 


1912 











136 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO 

:penditures for maintenance of school plant, auxiliary agert 
activities, fixed charges — Total cost of conducting schools. 



Table 63. — Expenditures for maintenance of school plant, auxiliary agencies, and sundry 

\chc 



Years. 


Main- 
tenance 
of school 

plant. 


Auxili- 
ary agen- 
cies and 
sundry 
activi- 
ties. 


Fixed 
charges. 


Total cost 
of con- 
ducting 
schools. 


Years. 


Main- 
tenance 
of school 

plant. 


Auxili- 
ary agen- 
cies and 
sundry 
activi- 
ties. 


Fixed 
charges. 


Total cost 
of con- 
ducting 
schools. 


1908 


$83,673 
134,375 
14,877 
152,530 
116,545 


$350 





226 

95 


$11,562 
13,534 
25, 148 
25,264 
22,557 


$1,502,710 
1,672,271 
1,559,659 
1,821,456 
1,857,888 


1913 


$119,459 
128,498 
168, 159 
145,960 


$886 

1,731 



1,957 


$19,028 
18,647 
18,769 
19,045 


$1,896,413 
1,969,400 
2,095,147 
2,181,466 


1909 


1914. . . 


1910 


1915. . . 


1911 


1916... 


1912 









Table 64. — Expenditures for (E) debt service, (I) capital outlays, and total debt service 
and capital outlays combined, for the years 1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 


Debt 
service. 


Capital 
outlays. 


Total debt 
service and 
capital out- 
lays com- 
bined. 


Years. 


Debt 
service. 


Capital 
outlays. 


Total debt 
service and 
capital out- 
lays com- 
bined. 


1908 


$119,659 
146,516 
223,773 
274,197 
310,670 


$289,039 
1,032,868 
1,681,559 
1,426,826 
1,376,276 


$408,698 
1,179,384 
1,905,332 
1,701,023 
1,686,946 


1913 


$343,323 
399,720 
610,997 
599,874 


$640,507 
470,030 
616,979 
313,232 


$983,830 


1909 


1914 


869,750 
1,227,986 


1910 


1915 


1911 


1916 


913, 106 


1912 









Table 65. — Summary of Tables 63 and 64, showing (1) total debt service and total capi- 
tal outlays combined, (2) total costs conducting the schools, and (3) grand total all 
school expenditures, for the years 1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 


Total debt 
service and 
total capi- 
tal outlays 
combined. 


Total cost 

conducting 

schools. 


Grand 
total all 
school 
expendi- 
tures. 


Years. 


Total debt 
service and 
total capi- 
tal outlays 
combined. 


Total cost 

conducting 

schools. 


Grand 
total all 
school 
expendi- 
tures. 


1908 


$408,698 
1,179,384 
1,905,332 
1,701,023 
1,686,946 


$1,502,710 
1,672,271 
1,559,659 
1,821,456 

1,857,888 


$1,911,408 
2,851,655 
3,464,991 
3,522,479 
3,544,834 


1913 


$983,830 

869,750 

1,227,986 

913,106 


$1,896,413 
1,969,400 
2,095,147 
2,181,466 


$2,880,243 


1909 


1914 


2, 839, 15G 


1910 


1915 


3,323,123 
3,094,572 


1911 


1916 


1912 









Table 66. — (1) Grand total of school expenditures, (2) average daily attendance, (3) cost 
per pupil, for the years 1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 


Grand 
total of 
school 
expendi- 
tures. 


Average 
daily 

attend- 
ance. 


Cost per 
pupil. 


Years. 


Grand 
total of 
school 
expendi- 
tures. 


Average 
daily 

attend- 
ance. 


Cost per 
pupil. 


1908 


$1,911,408 
2,851,655 
3,464,991 
3,522,479 
3,544,834 


33,931 
35,541 
36,774 
37,736 
40,448 


$56.33 
80.24 
94.22 
93,35 
87.64 


1913 


$2,880,243 
2,839,150 
3,323,123 
3,094,572 


42,830 
44,388 
46,562 
46,862 


$67.25 


1909 


1914 


63.96 


1910 


1915 


71.37 


1911 


1916 


66.03 


1912 











THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 



Table 67 .—Total cost conducting schools; cost per pupil, for the 

inclusive. 



137 

1908 to 1909, 



| Total cost 
Years. j conducting 
1 schools. 


s 

Cost per i 
pupil. 


Years. 


Total cost 

conducting 

schools. 


Cost per 
pupil. 


1908 SI. 502.710 


$44.29 
47.05 
42.41 

48.27 1 
45.93 


1913 


$1,896,413 
1.969,400 
2,095,147 
2,181,466 


$44.28 


1909 


1,672,271 
1,559,659 

1,821,456 

1,857,888 


1914 


44.37 


1910 


1915 


45.00 


1911 


1916... 


46.55 


1912 











Table 68. — Total expenditures 
'service and cost per pupil, for i 
1908 to 1916, inclusive. 


for debt 
he years 


Table 69. — Total expenditures in capital 
outlay and cost per pupil, for the years 
1908 to 1916, inclusive. 


Years. 


Total 
expendi- 
tures capi- 
tal outlays. 


Cost per 
pupil. 


Years. 


Total 
expendi- 
tures capi- 
tal outlays. 


Cost per 
pupil. 


1908 


$119,659 
146,516 
223,773 
274,197 
310,670 
343,323 
399, 720 
610,997 
599,874 


$3.53 
4.12 
6.08 
7.26 
7.68 
8.01 
9.00 
13.12 
12.80 


1908 


$289,039 
1,032,868 
1,681,559 


$8.52 


1909 


1909 


29.06 


1910 


1910 


45.72 


1911 


1911 


1,426,826 


37.81 


1912 


1912 


1,376,276 
640,507 
470,030 
616,979 
313, 232 


34.02 


1913 


1913 


15.00 


1914 


1914. 


10.59 


1915 


1915 


13.25 


1916 


1916 


6.70 











Table 70.— Cost per pupil based on (1) grand total of school expenditures segregated into 
{2) total cost conducting schools, (8) total expenditures for debt service, (4) total expend- 
itures capital outlays, for the years 1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 


Cost per 
pupil based 
on grand 
total of 
school ex- 
penditures. 


Cost per 
pupil based 
on total 
cost con- 
ducting 
schools. 


Cost per 
pupil based 
on total ex- 
penditures 
for debt 
service. 


Cost per 
pupil based 
on total ex- 
penditures 
in capital 

outlays. 


1908 • 


$56.33 
80.24 
94.22 
93.35 
87.64 
67.25 
63.96 
71.37 
66.03 


$44.29 
47.05 
42.41 
48.27 
45.93 
44.28 
44.37 
45.00 
46.55 


$3.53 
4.12 
6.08 
7.26 
7.68 
8.01 
9.00 
13.12 
12.80 


$8.52 


1909 


29.06 


1910 


45.72 


1911 


37.81 


1912 


34.02 


1913 


15.00 


1914 


10.59 


1915 


13.25 


1916 


6.70 







Table 71. — Expenses general control — Showing total expenses general control segregated 
into business administration general control, educational administration general control, 
cost per pupil total expenses general control, for the years 1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 


Total cost 
general 
control. 


Cost of 
business 
adminis- 
tration. 


Cost of 
educational 
adminis- 
tration. 


Cost per 
pupil to»,al 
expenses 
general 
control. 


1908 


$73,981 
64,296 
65,896 
68,139 
69,126 
62,651 
61,668 
62,772 
66,198 


$51,315 
44,479 
39, 143 
50,824 
49,741 
43,490 
42,730 
43,994 
43,070 


$22,666 
23,817 


$2.18 


1909 


1.81 


1910 


26,753 i 1.79 
17,315 1 1.81 
18,835 j 1.68 
19,161 ! 1.46 
18,938 1.39 
18,778 1.35 
23,128 


1911 


1912 


1913 


1914 


1915 


1916 









138 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 72. — Expenses of instruction — Showing total cost of instruction segregated into 
cost of supervision, cost of teaching, cost per pupil on total cost instruction, for the years 
1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 


Total cost 
of instruc- 
tion. 


Cost of 
super- 
vision. 


Cost of 
teaching. 


Cost per 

pupil on 

total cost 

instruction. 


1908 


$1,245,938 
1,364,525 
1,353,016 
1,462,830 
1,518,315 
1,554,002 
1,623,164 
1,674,572 
1,783,674 


$161,774 
207,075 
191,040 
185,888 
221,918 
217,680 
220,080 
220,475 
232,558 


$1,084,164 
1,157,450 
1,161,976 
1,276,942 
1,296,397 
1,336,322 
1,403,084 
1,454,097 
1,551,116 


$36.72 


1909 


38.39 


1910 


36.79 


1911 


38.77 


1912 


37.54 


1913 


36.28 


1914 


36i57 


1915 


35.96 


1916 


38.06 







Table 73. — Expenses of operation of school 
plant — Showing total cost of operation 
and cost per pupil, for the years 1908 to 
1916, inclusive. 


Table 74. — Expenses of maintenance of 
school plant — Showing total cost of main- 
tenance of school plant and maintenance 
per 'pupil, for the years 1908 to 1916, in- 
clusive. 








Years. 


Total 
expense 
of opera- 
tion. 


Cost per 
pupil on 
total oper- 
ation of 
plant. 


* Years. 


Total cost 
of mainte- 
nance. 


Total cost 
of mainte- 
nance, per 
pupil. 


1908 


$87,206 
95,541 


$2.57 
2.69 


1908 


$83,673 
134,375 
14,877 
152,530 
116,545 
119,459 
128,498 
168,359 
145,960 


$2.46 


1909.., 


1909 


3.78 


1910 


100,722 \ 2.74 
112,467 1 3.00 
132,250 j 3.27 
140,387 ! 3.28 
135,692 i 3.06 
170,875 | 3.67 
164,632 3- Si 


1910 


.40 


1911, 


1911 


4.04 


1912 .... 


1912 


2.88 


1913 


1913 


2.79 


1914 


1914 


2.89 


1915 


1915 


3.61 


1916 


1916 


3.11 














Table 75. — Expenses of auxiliary agencies and sundry activities — Showing total cost of 
auxiliary agencies and sundry activities segregated into community lectures, social 
centers, total cost per pupil on auxiliary agencies and sundry activities for the years 
1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 


Total ex- 
pense of 

auxiliary 

agencies 

and sundry 

activities. 


Expenses 
of com- 
munity 

lectures. 


Expenses 
of social 
centers. 


Total cost 
per pupil 
for auxil- 
iary agen- 
cies and 
sundry ac- 
tivities. 


1908 


$350 





226 

95 

886 

1,731 



1,957 


$350 





226 

95 

886 

1,731 



60 










$1,897 


$0,010 


1909 





1910 





1911 


.005 


1912 





1913 


.020 


1914 


.038 


1915.. 





1916 


.041 







Note. — A reference to the classification of accounts given in preceding pages of 
this report shows that there are 12 accounts under the schedule heading, " Expenses 
of Auxiliary Agencies and Sundry Activities." These accounts are as follows: 
Libraries; library books; promotion of health; transportation of pupils; care of children 
in institutions; provision for school lunches; community lectures; social centers; 
recreation; other auxiliary agencies and sundry activities ; payments to private schools; 
and payments to schools of other civil divisions. 



THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 



139 



Attention is called to this for the purpose of emphasizing the fact that the exhibit 
in the table shows that San Francisco has not been carrying any of the burdens that 
some of these accounts might have imposed upon the city; nor has it been availing 
itself of the opportunity to expand its high-school libraries, to promote its health 
activities, to develop its school lunches, to provide for proper recreation, and to ex- 
pand its community and social center work. It will be noticed that the 2 last-named 
accounts are the only 2 out of the entire 12 where the city has spent anything at all. 



Table 76. — Total expenses of fixed charges, and the same segregated into cost of pensions, 
of rent, of insurance, taxes — Cost per pupil, based on total cost of fixed charges, for the 
years 1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 


Total cost 
of fixed 
charges. 


Cost of 
pensions. 1 


Cost of 
rent. 


Cost Of 
insur- 
ance. 


Taxes. 


Cost per 
pupil. 


1908 $11,562 

1909 i 13,534 

1910 25,148 

1911 ! 25,264 

1912 22,577 

1913 19,028 

1914 „ '• 18,647 

1915 18,769 

1916 19,045 

1 


$3,000 
6,020 
15,316 
15,849 
16,405 
16,657 
15,350 
15,959 
16,570 


$8,167 
7,514 
9,607 
9,044 
5,800 
2,168 
2,866 
2,408 
1,596 


$395 

225 
323 
353 
203 
365 
290 
879 






$48 


66 

112 



$0.34 
.38 
.66 
.67 
.56 
.44 
.42 
.40 
.40 



1 Consists of deductions from teachers' salaries. 

A similar table for the debt service account is not available, since 
the items are not segregated in the system of accounting. 

Table 77. — Total expense in capital outlay, and the same segregated into costs of land, 
of new buildings, of alterations to old buildings, and of equipment — Cost per pupil 
based on total expenditures in capital outlay, for the years 1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 


Total cost 

of capital 

outlay. 


Cost of 
land. 


Cost of 

new 

buildings. 


Cost of 
alterations 

to old 
buildings. 


Cost of 
equip- 
ments. 


Cost per 
pupil on 
total ex- 
penditures 
in capital 
outlay. 


1908 


$289,039 

1,032,868 

1,681,599 

1,426,826 

1,376,276 

640,507 

470,030 

616,979 

313,232 


$39, 725 


!lli225.7U 




$118,070 








$23, 600 
24, 252 
18,518 
70,246 
11,067 
15,642 
11,464 
30,601 
49,324 


$8.52 


1909 


376,811 631,806 
272,593 1,272,378 

82,450 1 1,274,130 
185,298 1,179.911 

82,682 542,183 
5,000 ! 453,566 

21,938 , 564,440 

47, 814 i nQ4 


29.06 


1910 


45.72 


1911 


37.81 


1912 


34.02 


1913 


15.00 


1914 


10.59 


1915 


13.25 


1916 .. .. 


6.70 











Table 78. — Showing amount per pupil, (1) grand total school expenditures, and of the 
same segregated into the following accounts: (2) general control, (3) instruction, (4) 
operation of school plant, (5) maintenance of school plants, (6) auxiliary agencies 
and sundry activities, (7) fixed charges, (8) debt service, (9) capital outlay. 



Years. 


Amount 
per pupil 
of grand 

total 
expendi- 
tures. 


Cost per 
pupil 

of 
general 
con- 
trol. 


Cost per 
pupil 
of 
in- 
struc- 
tion. 


Cost per 
pupil of 
opera- 
tion of 
school 
plant. 


Cost per 
pupil of 
mainte- 
nance 
of school 
plant. 


Cost per 
pupil of 
auxiliary 
agencies 
and sun- 
dry activ- 
ities. 


Cost per 

pupil 
of fixed 
charges. 


Cost per 
pupil 

of 
debt 
serv- 
ice. 


Cost per 
pupil 

of 
capital 
outlay. 


1908 


$56. 33 
80.24 
94.22 
93.35 
87.64 
67.25 
63.96 
71.37 
66.03 


$2.18 
1.81 
1.79 
1.81 
1.68 
1.46 
1.39 
1.35 
1.41 


$36.72 
38.39 
36.79 
38.77 
37.54 
36.28 
36.57 
35.96 
38.06 


$2.57 

2*. 74 
3.00 
3.27 
3.28 
3.06 
3.67 
3.51 


$2.46 
3.78 
.40 
4.04 
2.88 
2.79 
2.89 
3.61 
3.11 








$0,005 



.020 

.038 



.041 


$0.34 
.38 
.68 
.67 
.56 
.44 
.42 
.40 
.40 


$3.53 
4.12 
6.08 
7.26 
7.68 
8.01 
9.00 
13.12 
12.80 


$8.52 


1909 


29.06 


1910 


45.72 


1911 


37.81 


1912 


34.02 


1913 


15.00 


1914 


10.59 


1915 


13.25 


1916 


6.70 







140 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



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THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 



141 



Table 80. — Assessed valuation, rate of taxation per $100, school-tax rate 'per $100, esti- 
mated value of all school property, for the years 1908 to 1916, inclusive. 



Years. 


Municipal 

and State 

assessment. 


City-tax 

rate per 

$100. 


School- 
tax rate 
per $100. 


Estimated 

value all 

school 

property. 


1908 


$429,611,618 
454,334,160 


SI. 415 
1.50 


$0,205 
.209 
.1838 
.1747 
.235 
.224 
.208 
.222 
.255 


$6,379,000 
7,206,575 
8,733,285 

10,161,492 


1909 


1910 


492,867,037 1.60 


1911 


515,028,100 
545,064,347 
604,813,249 
623,847,729 
647,207,514 
656,344,229 


1.647 

2.00 

2.05 

2.20 

2.25 

2.26 


1912 


12,536,929 
11,983,657 
12,600,202 
13,721,169 
14,020,943 


1913 


1914 


1915 


1916 





PER CENT INCREASES FROM 1908 TO 1916. 

From the tables found in the preceding pages certain items have 
been selected and reduced to a per cent basis in order to show the 
relative increases from 1908 to 1916. These figures are. presented 
in Table 81 and Figures 38 and 39, and show the per cent increases 
in: (1) Average daily attendance of pupils in public schools in San 
Francisco; (2) number of teachers employed; (3) number of schools; 
(4) total cost of conducting the school system per pupil (exclusive of 
debt service and capital outlay); (5) total receipts for school pur- 
poses; (6) total expenditures for school purposes; (7) estimated 
value of school property; (8) municipal and State assessment of 
property in San Francisco. In each column the figure for 1908 is 
used as 100 per cent base. 

Table 81. — Per cent increase in certain items, San Francisco, 1908 to 1916 (with 1908 as 

the standard). 



Years. 



Average 


Number 


Number 


daily at- 
tendance 


of teach- 


of school 


ers em- 


buildings 


of pupils. 


ployed. 


used. 


100 


100 


100 


104.7 


109.1 


103.3 


108.4 


109.4 


106.7 


111.2 


112.1 


112.3 


119.2 


119.5 


117.9 


126.2 


130 


117.9 


130.8 


135 


116.8 


137.2 


135.6 


116.8 


138.1 


138.8 


117.9 



Total cost 


Total 

receipts 

for school 


Total 


Esti. 


of conduct- 


expendi- 


mated 


ing school 


tures for 


value of 


system per 


school 


school 


pupil. 




purposes. 


property. 


100 


100 


100 


100 


106.2 


253 


148.1 


112.9 


95.7 


180.7 


181.2 


136.9 


108.9 


195.6 


184.2 


159.3 


103.7 


170.8 


185.4 


196.5 


99.9 


178.7 


150.6 


187.8 


100.1 


207.9 


148.5 


197.5 


101.6 


158.3 


173.8 


215.1 


105.1 


171.7 


161.9 


219.8 



Munici- 
pal and 
State a§» 



within 
city and 
county. 



1908. 
1909, 
1910, 
1911, 
1912 
1913 
1914 
1915 
1916 



100 

105.7 

114.6 

119.8 

126.8 

140.7 

145.2 

150.6 

152.7 



142 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



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THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 



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144 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

A study of Table 81 and Figures 38 and 39 brings out clearly the 
following facts : 

(1) There have been steady increases in average daily attendance 
of pupils and in number of teachers employed since 1908. 

(2) There have not been corresponding and consistent increases in 
total receipts and total expenditures for school purposes. 

(3) In only two years since 1910 have the total receipts equaled 
the sum reached in that year, and the general tendency since 1910 
has been retrogressive. 

(4) The total expenditures for school purposes show only slight 
increases in two years subsequent to 1910, and the general tendency 
since 1912 has been distinctly retrogressive. 

(5) As a corollary to these conditions the cost of conducting the 
schools per pupil has remained practically stationary since 1908. 
General increases in prices of commodities during the past nine years 
and adjustment of the school system to a reasonable degree of 
improvement in methods and equipment should have caused a 
greater increase in the cost per pupil since 1908. 

(6) Although the estimated value of school property has increased 
over 100 per cent during the nine years (more than twice the increase 
in assessed valuation of property in the city and county) , it is to be 
noted that the number of schools has increased less than 20 per cent. 
The extent to which the board of education has acquired income- 
producing property, unimproved building lots, and other property 
not devoted directly to instructional uses must be made clear before 
the real situation as to provision for the needs of the school children 
becomes apparent. A fluctuating basis of estimate may account in 
part for the discrepancy between the increase in number of schools 
and value of school property. The survey commission lacked 
facilities for complete analysis of this problem. 

SAN FRANCISCO COMPARED WITH OTHER CITIES. 

To assist in an understanding of the problems of school finance in 
San Francisco, the tables presented in the following pages have been 
prepared. San Francisco is compared with the nine other cities 
having a population of 300,000 to 500,000 in 1915 in respect to 
certain selected items of municipal expenditures and public-school 
control. 



THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 



145 



Table 82. — Value at close of fiscal year of land, buildings, and equipment employed or 
held for specified purposes, total for all general departments and for certain general 
departments, 10 cities, 1915. 1 



Cities. 



Total. 



Police de- 
partment. 



Fire de- 
partment. 



Public 

schools. 



Recreation. 



Buffalo , 

San Francisco. 
Los Angeles... 

Milwaukee 

Cincinnati 

Newark 

New Orleans.. 
Washington... 
Minneapolis... 
Seattle 



$49,804,616 
56,437,500 
29,229,614 
23,436,215 
32,150,785 
28,689,331 
15,712,251 
24,927,007 
23,559,472 
23,152,077 



$570,765 
1,678,000 
269,194 
748,570 
395,812 
567,338 
121,487 
403,541 
120,034 
63,439 



$1,530,902 
8,528,000 
1,342,763 
1,498,720 
1,988,262 
1,491,610 
1,295,000 
1,273,835 
1,169,460 
1,693,270 



$9,717,614 
12,585,000 
10,162,830 

6,139,669 
10,739,804 
10,191,384 

3,556,000 
12,124,738 

7,789,556 



$11,158,857 
19,644,500 
10,910,809 
7,708,890 
7,302,732 
9,541,459 
5,645,950 
4,513,253 
7,761,050 
9,040,622 



Average. 



28,709,886 



493,818 j 2,181,182 ! 8,980,988 



9,313,812 



1 From Financial Statistics of Cities having a Population of over 30,000, 1915, Bureau of the Census. 

Table 82 shows the value at the close of the fiscal year 1915 of land, 
buildings, and equipment employed or held for specified purposes for 
certain departments of the general departmental service, for 10 cities. 
From this table are derived the comparisons presented in the follow- 
ing pages. 

Table 83.— Value at close of fiscal year of land, buildings, and equipment employed or 
held for specified purposes, total for all general departments, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. SAN FRANCISCO $56,437,500 

2. Cincinnati 32, 150, 785 

3. Buffalo , 29, 804, 616 

4. Los Angeles 29, 229, 614 

5. Newark 28, 689, 331 

6. Washington 24, 927, 007 

7. Minneapolis. 23, 559, 472 

8. Milwaukee ' 23, 436, 210 

9. Seattle 23, 152, 077 

10. New Orleans 15, 712, 251 



Average 28, 709, 886 

San Francisco possesses more municipal property devoted to gen- 
eral governmental purposes than any other city in the list, and nearly 
twice as much as the average for the 10 cities, Table 83. 

Table 84. — Value at close of fiscal year of land, buildings, and equipment employed or 
held for use of police department, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. SAN FRANCISCO $1,678,000 

2. Milwaukee 748,570 

3. Buffalo 570, 765 

4. Newark 567, 338 

5. Washington. 403, 541 

6. Cincinnati 395, 812 

7. Los Angeles 269, 194 

8. New Orleans , 121, 487 

9. Minneapolis 120,034 

Seattle 63, 439 



10. 

Average 

93815—17 10 



493, 818 



146 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

The value of property employed or held for the use of the police 
department in San Francisco is nearly three and one-half times as 
much as the average for the 10 cities, Table 84. 

Table 85. — Value at close of fiscal year of land, buildings, and equipment employed or 
held for use of fire department, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. SAN FRANCISCO $8,528,000 

2. Cincinnati 1, 988, 262 

3. Seattle 1, 693, 270 

4. Buffalo 1, 530, 902 

5. Milwaukee 1, 498, 720 

6. Newark 1, 491, 610 

7. Los Angeles 1,342,763 

8. New Orleans 1, 295, 000 

9. Washington. 1, 273, 835 

10. Minneapolis 1, 169, 460 

Average 2, 181, 182 

The value of property employed or held for the use of the fire 
department in San Francisco is nearly four times as much as the 
average for the 10 cities, Table 85. 

Table 86. — ■ Value at close of fiscal year of land, buildings, and equipment employed or 
held for use of public-school department, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. SAN FRANCISCO $12,585,000 

2. Washington 12, 124, 738 

3. Cincinnati 10, 739, 804 

4. Newark 10, 191, 384 

5. Los Angeles 10, 162, 830 

6. Buffalo 9, 717, 614 

7. Minneapolis 7, 789, 556 

8. Seattle 6, 803, 289 

9. Milwaukee 6, 139, 669 

10. New Orleans 3, 556, 000 

Average 8, 980, 988 

On the other hand, the value of property employed or held for 
public-school purposes in San Francisco, while greater than the 
amount in any other city, is only 16.4 per cent greater than the 
average for the next 4 cities, $10,804,689, and only 40.1 per cent 
greater than the average for the 10 cities, Table 86. 

Table 87. — Value at close of fiscal year of land, buildings, and equipment employed 
or held for recreational purposes, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. SAN FRANCISCO $19,644,500 

2. Buffalo 11, 158, 857 

3. Los Angeles 10, 910, 809 

4. Newark 9, 541, 459 

5. Seattle 9, 040, 622 

6. Minneapolis 7, 061, 570 

7. Milwaukee . 7,708,890 

8. Cincinnati 7, 302, 732 

9. NewOrleans 5,645,950 

10. Washington 4, 513, 253 

Average 9, 313, 812 



THE FINANCES OP THE SCHOOLS. 147 

In value of property employed or held for recreational purposes, 
San Francisco ranks first in the list, the amount being more than 
twice the average for the 10 cities, Table 87. 

Table 88.— Funded and special assessment debts at close of fiscal year, total for all pur- 
poses, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. Cincinnati » $74, 082, 532 

2. Newark 48, 829, 808 

3. Los Angeles . . 46, 638, 330 

4. SAN FRANCISCO 42,635,800 

5. Seattle 42, 031, 032 

6. Buffalo 38, 822, 434 

7. New Orleans 38, 729, 138 

8. Minneapolis 25, 699, 841 

9. Milwaukee 15, 704, 250 

10. Washington 6, 518, 000 

Average 37, 969, 116 

San Francisco ranks fourth in the list of cities in total amount of 
indebtedness for all purposes, Table 88 and Figure 40. The amounts 



Cincinnati $74,082,532 

Bewark 48,829,808 

Los Angeles 46,638,330 
*SAB FRAHCISCO 42.635,800 

Seattle 42.031.032 

Buffalo 38,822,434 

Hew Orleans 38.729,138 

Minneapolis 25,699,841 

Milwaukee 15.704,250 

Washington 6.518.000 

AVERAGE 37,969,116 



Figure 40.— Municipal indebtedness, total for all purposes. 

reported for 6 of the 10 cities are included between $38,000,000 and 
$49,000,000. 

Table 89. — Per capita funded and special assessment debts at close of fiscal year, 
total for all purposes, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. Cincinnati $159. 34 

2. Seattle 134. 27 

3 . Newark 125. 49 

4. New Orleans 107. 21 

5. Los Angeles 103. 15 

6. SAN FRANCISCO 94.27 

7. Buffalo 84. 81 

8. Minneapolis 74. 56 

9. Milwaukee 37. 42 

10. Washington 18. 30 

Average 96. 20 



148 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 

Comparing the cities on a per capita basis, San Francisco ranks 
sixth in indebtedness for all purposes, Table 89 and Figure 41. The 



Cincinnati 


$159.34 


Seattle 


134.27 


Hewark 


125,49 


Hew Orleans 


107.21 


Los Angeles 


103.15 


SAH FRAHCISCO 94.27 


Buffalo 


84.81 


Minneapolis 


74.56 


Milwaukee 


37.42 


Washington 


18.30 


AVERAGE 


96.20 



Figure 41. — Municipal indebtedness for all purposes, per capita of population. 

average for the first three cities in the list, $139.70, is 48 per cent 
greater than the amount in San Francisco. 

Table 90. — Funded and special assessment debts at close of fiscal year, total for school 

buildings, 10 cities , 1915. 

1. Newark $8, 698, 200 

2. Buffalo 6, 988, 723 

3. Los Angeles 6, 562, 050 

4. SAN FRANCISCO 6,060,100 

5. Minneapolis , 6, 030, 000 

6. Cincinnati 5, 155, 618 

7. Seattle 4, 904, 000 

8. Milwaukee 2, 954, 178 

9. New Orleans 1, 590, 305 

10. Washington 

Average 4, 894, 317 



Hewark $8,698,200 

Buffalo 6,988,723 

Los Angeles 6,562,050 

♦ SAH FRAHCISCO 6,060,100 

Minneapolis 6,030,000 

Cincinnati 5,155,618 

Seattle 4,904,000 

Milwaukee 2,954,178 

Hew Orleans 1,590,305 

Washington .... 

AVERAGE 4,894,317 



Figuee 42.— Municipal indebtedness for school buildings. 

San Francisco ranks fourth in indebtedness for school buildings ; 
the amount reported being 23.8 per cent greater than the average 
forlthe 10 cities, Table 90 and Figure 42. 



THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 149 

Table 91.— Per capita funded and special assessment debts at close of fiscal year, total for 
school buildings, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. Newark $22. 35 

2. Minneapolis 17. 53 

3. Seattle 15.66 

4. Buffalo 15.27 

5. Los Angeles 14. 55 

6. SAN FRANCISCO 13.39 

7. Cincinnati 12. 81 

8. Milwaukee 7. 04 

9. New Orleans 4. 40 

10. Washington 

Average 12. 40 



Hewarfc $£2.36 

Minneapolis 17.53 

Seattle 15.66 

Buffalo 15.27 

Los Ang9les 14.55 

♦ SAN FRANCISCO 13.39 

Cincinnati 12.81 

Milwaukee 7.04 

Hew Orleans 4.40 
Washington 

AVERAGE 12.40 



Figtjee 43.— Indebtedness for school buildings per capita of population. 

On a per capita basis, however, San Francisco ranks sixth in the 
list, Table 91 and Figure 43. The average of the first two cities in the 
list, $19.94, is 49 per cent greater than the amount in San Francisco. 

Table 92. — Funded and special assessment debts at close of fiscal year, total for all pur- 
poses other than school buildings, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. Cincinnati $68, 926. 914 

2. Newark 40,131,608 

3. Los Angeles 40, 076, 280 

4. New Orleans 27, 138, 833 

5. Seattle 37,127,032 

6. SAN FRANCISCO 36,575,700 

7. Buffalo 31,833,711 

8. Minneapolis.. 19, 669, 841 

9. Milwaukee 12, 750, 072 

10. Washington 6, 518, 000 

Average 33, 074, 799 



Cincinnati $68,926,914 

Newark 40,151,608 

Los Angeles 40,076,280 

Hew Orleans 37 , 138 , 833 

Seattle 37,127,032 

*SAN FRANCISCO 36,575,700 

Buffalo 31,833,711 

Minneapolis 19,669,841 

Milwaukee 12,750,072 

Washington 6 , 518 , 000 

AVERAGE 33,074,799 



Figure 44.— Municipal Indebtedness, total for all purposes other than school buildings. 



150 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Eliminating school buildings, San Francisco ranks sixth in the 
'amount of indebtedness for all other purposes, Table 92 and Figure 

Table 93. — Per capita funded and special assessment debts at close of fiscal year, total 
for all purposes other than school buildings, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. Cincinnati $146. 53 

2. Seattle 118. 61 

' 3. Newark , 103. 14 

4. New Orleans 102. 81 

5. Los Angeles 88. 60 

6. SAN FRANCISCO 80. 88 

7. Buffalo 69. 54 

8. Minneapolis 57. 03 

9. Milwaukee 30. 38 

10. Washington 18. 30 

Average 83. 80 

44. Only one city, however, reports indebtedness of more than 10 
per cent in excess of the amount in San Francisco. 



Cincinnati 


$146.53 


Seattle 


118.61 


Newark 


103.14 


Hew Orleans 


102.81 


Los Angeles 


88.60 


SAB FRAHCISCO 


80.88 


3-uffalo 


69.54 


Minneapolis 


57.03 


Milwaukee 


30.38 


Washington 


18.30 


AVERAGE 


83.80 



Figube 45.— Municipal indebtedness, total for all purposes other than school buildings, per capita of 

population. 

San Francisco ranks sixth also in per capita indebtedness for all 
purposes other than school buildings, Table 93 and Figure 45. The 
average for the first two cities, $132.57, is 63.9 per cent greater than 
the amount in San Francisco. 



THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 



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152 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FRANCISCO. 

Table 95. — Expenses for general control of public schools, 10 cities, 1915-16. 

1. Los Angeles $224, 559 

2. Newark 126, 483 

3. Minneapolis.' 93, 910 

4. Buffalo 77, 342 

5. SAN FRANCISCO 76,749 

6. Seattle 74, 530 

7. Cincinnati 65, 263 

* 8. Milwaukee 63,495 

9 . Washington 43, 984 

10. New Orleans.. 32,278 

Average 87, 859 

San Francisco ranks considerably below the average of the 10 
cities in cost of general control of public schools, Table 95 and Figure 



Los Angeles 


$224, 559 


Newark 


126,483 


Minneapolis 


93,910 


Buffalo 


77,342 


SAH FRANCISCO 


76,749 


Seattle 


74,530 


Cincinnati 


65,263 


Milwaukee 


63,495 


Washington 


43,984 


Hew Orleans 


32,278 


AVERAGE 


87,859 



Figure 46.— Expenses for general control of public schools. 

46. Newark spends 64.8 per cent more than San Francisco for this 
purpose and Los Angeles nearly three times as much. 

Table 96. — Expenses for instruction, day schools, 9 cities, 1915-16. 

1. Los Angeles $3, 775, 144 

2. Newark 2, 436, 041 

3. Buffalo 2, 080, 865 

4. Minneapolis 2, 012, 197 

5. Washington 1,993,602 

6. Milwaukee 1,881,199 

7. SAN FRANCISCO 1,723,701 

8. Seattle 1,527,056 

9. New Orleans 1,012,295 

Average 2,046,900 



Los Angeles 


$3, 775,144 


Newark 


2,436,041 


Buffalo 


2,080,865 


Minneapolis 


2,012,197 


Washington 


1,993,602 


Milwaukee 


1,881,199 


SAH FRANCISCO 


1,723,701 


Seattle 


1,527,056 


Hew Orleans 


1,012,295 


AVERAGE 


2,046,900 



Fichtse 47.— Expenses for Instruction, day schools. 



THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 153 

San Francisco ranks seventh in the list of cities in cost of instruc- 
tion in day schools, Table 96 and Figure 47. The average for the 10 
cities is 18.7 per cent greater than in San Francisco, and the average 
for the first 3 cities is 60.3 per cent greater. 

Table 97. — Expenses for instruction, evening schools, 9 cities, 1915-16. 

1. Los Angeles $128, 642 

2. Newark 108,475 

3. Buffalo 85,634 

4. SAN FRANCISCO 73,875 

5. Milwaukee 63. 805 

6. Seattle 26,314 

7. Minneapolis 24, 524 

8. Washington 18,576 

9. New Orleans 17,618 

Average 60, 827 

As shown in Table 97 and Figure 48, San Francisco ranks some- 
what above the average for the 10 cities in cost of instruction in 



Los Angeles 


$128,642 


Newark 


108,475 


Buffalo 


85,634 


*SAN FRMCISC0 73,875 


Milwaukee 


63,805 


Seattle 


26,314 


Minneapolis 


24,524 


Washington 


18,576 


Hew Orleans 


17,618 


AVERAGE 


60,827 




Figure 48,— 



Expenses for instruction in evening schools. 

evening schools, but the average for the first 2 cities, $118,558, 
60.4 per cent greater than the amount in San Francisco. 

Fable 98. — Expenses for instruction, day and evening schools, 10 cities, 1915-16. 

1. Los Angeles $3, 903, 786 

2. Newark 2, 544, 516 

3. Buffalo 2, 166, 499 

4. Minneapolis 2, 036, 721 

5. Washington 2, 012, 178 

6. Milwaukee 1, 945, 004 

7. Cincinnati 1, 906, 516 

8. SAN FRANCISCO 1,797,576 

9 . Seattle 1, 553, 370 

10. New Orleans 1, 029, 913 



Average 2,089,607 



154 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

In cost of instruction in day and evening schools combined, Table 
98 and Figure 49, San Francisco ranks eighth in the list. The aver- 



Los Angelas #3,903,786 

Newark £.544,516 

Buffalo 2,166,499 

Minneapolis 2,036,721 

Washington 2,012,178 

Milwaukee 1,945,004 

Cinoinnati 1,906,516 

*3AB PHMCI5C0 1,797,576 

Seattle 1,553,370 

Hew Orleans 1,029,913 

AVERAGE 2,089,607 



Figure 49.— Expenses for instruction, day and evening schools combined. 

age for the 10 cities is 16.2 per cent greater than the amount in San 
Francisco, and the average for the first 3 cities is 59.7 per cent greater. 

Table 99. — Total current expenses for public schools, 10 cities, 1915-16. ■ 

1. Los Angeles $5, 234, 944 

2. Newark 3, 085, 476 

3. Buffalo 2, 888, 200 

4. Minneapolis 2, 679, 860 

5. Milwaukee 2, 549, 817 

6. Cincinnati 2, 458, 158 

7. Washington 2, 437, 338 

8. SAN FRANCISCO 2,206,912 

9. Seattle 2, 014, 257 

10. New Orleans 1, 225, 197 

Average 2, 678, 015 

In respect to total current expenses for public schools, Table 99 and 
Figure 50, San Francisco ranks eighth. The amount spent in 



Los Angeles 


$5,234,944 


Newark 


3,085.476 


Buffalo 


2,888,200 


Minneapolis 


2,679,860 


Milwaukee 


2,549,817 


Cincinnati 


2,458,158 


Washington 


2,437,338 


*SAH FRANCISCO 


2,206,912 


Seattle 


2,014,257 


New Orleans 


1,225,197 


AVERAGE 


2,678,015 



Fiqxtbk 50.— Total current expenses for public schools. 

Newark is 39.8 per cent greater than that in San Francisco, and the 
amount in Los Angeles is more than two and one-third times as 
much. 



THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 



155 



Table 100. — Grand total of expenses for public schools, 10 cities, 1915-16. 

1. Los Angeles $7, 401, 952 

2. Buffalo 3, 981, 126 

3. Washington 3, 708, 459 

4. Newark 3, 696, 817 

5. Minneapolis 3, 348, 906 

6. Milwaukee 3, 269, 191 

7. SAN FRANCISCO 3,138,487 

8. Cincinnati 3, 068, 247 

9. Seattle 2, 672, 193 

10. New Orleans 1, 950, 117 

Average 3, 623, 549 

As shown in Table 100 and Figure 51, San Francisco ranks seventh 
in respect to total expenditures for public schools. The average for 
the 10 cities is 15.4 per cent greater than the amount in San Fran- 
cisco, and the amount in Los Angeles is more than twice as great. 



Los Angeles 
Buffalo 
Washington 
Hewark 
Jiinsaapolis 
Milwaukee 
*SAH FRAHCISCO 
Cincinnati 
Seattle 
Hew. Orleans 

AVERAGE 



$7,401,952 
3,981,186 
3,708,459 
3,696,817 
3,348,906 
3,269,191 
3,138,487 
3,068,247 
2,672,193 
1,950,117 

3.623,549 



Figure 51.— Total expenses for public schools. 

Table 101. — Per capita governmental cost payment for expenses of general depart- 
ments, by principal divisions of the general departmental service, 10 cities, 1915. 



Cities. 


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Buffalo 


$22.84 


$2.53 


$2.46 


$2.42 


$0.46 


$1.11 


$1.50 


$2.92 


$1.88 


$5.28 


$0.86 


$0.86 


$0.61 


San Francisco 


24.15 


3.56 


3.41 


3.76 


.59 


.42 


1.30 


2.52 


2.12 


4.61 


.17 


1.10 


.60 


Los Angeles 


26.30 
19.82 


3.32 
2.00 


1.73 
1.58 


1.57 

1.68 


.87 
.32 


.24 
.51 


1.49 
2.23 


4.60 
2.16 


1.32 
1.62 


9.22 
5.76 


.34 

.28 


.79 
.96 


.82 


Milwaukee 


.72 


Cincinnati 


22.38 


3.37 


2.04 


1.81 


.28 


.34 


1.26 


4.19 


1.42 


5.88 


.30 


.45 


1.04 


Newark. 


22.32 
13.46 


2.67 

1.88 


2.61 
1.24 


1.83 
1.45 


.24 
.28 


.86 
.37 


1.51 
2.56 


1.92 

1.66 


2.21 
.47 


6.83 
3.02 


.31 
.10 


.95 
.24 


.38 


New Orleans 


.19 


Washington 


26.91 
18.57 


2.27 
2.04 


2.72 
1.23 


1.86 
1.65 


.80 
.36 


.43 
.29 


1.95 
1.16 


3.11 

2.88 


4.64 
.94 


6.94 
6.43 


.18 
.47 


1.19 
.64 


81 


Minneapolis ...... 


.48 


Seattle 


20.15 


3.27 


1.72 


2.58 


.28 


.53 


1.62 


2.23 


.91 


5.42 


.55 


.58 


.46 


Average 


21.89 


2.72 


2.11 


2.08 


.46 


.52 


1.65 


2.86 


1.76 


6.04 


.29 


.79 


.61 



1 Includes payments for inspection of buildings, plumbing, weights and measures, electric wiring, boilers, 
elevators, gas, and other service. 

2 Includes operation and maintenance of museums, art galleries, zoological collections, conservatories, 
general recreation, parks, trees, and quasi-productive park enterprises. 

3 Includes payments for objects that can not properly be assigned to any of the other principal divisions 
of the table, including soldiers' relief and burial, administration of public trust and investment funds, 
expenses of public commissions, pensions and gratuities, judgments and claims, and other payments. 



156 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Table 102. — Per capita governmental cost payments for expenses of general depart- 
ments — Total for all departments, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. Washington $26. 91 

2. Los Angeles- . . 26. 30 

3. SAN FRANCISCO 24.15 

4. Buffalo 22. 84 

5. Cincinnati 22. 38 

6. Newark 22. 32 

7. Seattle 20. 15 

8. Milwaukee 19. 82 

9. Minneapolis 18. 57 

10. New Orleans 13. 46 

Average 21. 89 

In per capita total cost of municipal government, for all depart- 
ments, San Francisco ranks third in the list of cities, Table 102 and 



Washington 


§26.91 


Los Angeles 


26.30 


*SAB FEAHCISC0 


24.15 


Buffalo 


22.84 


Cincinnati 


22.38 


Newark 


22.32 


Seattle 


20.16 


Milwaukee 


19.82 


Minneapolis 


18.57 


flew Orleans 


13.46 


AVERAGE 


21.89 



Figuke 52.— Governmental costs, total for all general departments, per capita of population. 

Figure 52. It costs 10.3 per cent more to govern San Francisco 
than the average for the 10 cities, and 34.1 per cent more than the 
average for the lowest 4 cities in the list, $18. 

Table 103. — Per capita cost payments for expenses of general government, 10 cities, 

1915. 

1. SAN FRANCISCO $3.56 

2. Cincinnati 3. 37 

3. Los Angeles 3. 32 

4. Seattle 3.27 

5. Newark 2. 67 

6. Buffalo 2.53 

7. Washington 2. 27 

8. Minneapolis 2. 04 

9. Milwaukee 2.00 

10. New Orleans 1. 88 



Average 2. 72 



*SAH FRAUCISCO #3.66 



Cincinnati 


3.37 


Los Angeles 


3.32 


Seattle 


3.27 


Hewark 


2.67 


Buffalo 


2.53 


Washington 


2.27 


Minneapolis 


2.04 


Milwaukee 


2.00 


Bew Orleans 


k 1.88 


AVERAGE 


2.72 



Figttre 53.— Cost of municipal government, department of general government, per capita of population. 



THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 157 

It costs more per capita for the department of general city govern- 
ment in San Francisco than in any other city in the list, Table 103 
and Figure 53. The amount in San Francisco is 30.8 per cent greater 
than the average for the 10 cities, and 80 per cent greater than the 
average for the lowest 3 cities, $1.97. 

Table 104. — Per capita governmental cost payments for expenses of police department, 

10 cities, 1915. 

1. SAN FRANCISCO $3.41 

2. Washington 2. 72 

3. Newark 2.61 

4. Buffalo 2. 46 

5. Cincinnati 2. 04 

6. Los Angeles 1. 73 

7. Seattle 1. 72 

8. Milwaukee 1. 58 

9. New Orleans 1. 24 

10. Minneapolis 1. 23 

Average 2. 11 

The per capita cost of maintaining the police department in San 
Francisco is 61.6 per cent greater than the average for the 10 cities, 



*SAH FRAUCI3G0 $3.41 



Washington 


2.78 


Hewark 


£.61 


Buffalo 


2.46 


Cincinnati 


2.04 


los Angeles 


1.73 


Seattle 


1.72 


Milwaukee 


1.58 


New Orleans 


1.24 


Minneapolis 


1.23 


AVERAGE 


2.11 



Figure 54.— Cost of police department per capita of population. 

and more than two and three-fourths as much as the average for the 
lowest 2 cities in the list, $1,235, Table 104 and Figure 54. 

Table 105. — Per capita governmental cost payments for expenses of fire department, 

10 cities, 1915. 

1. SAN FRANCISCO $3.76 

2. Seattle 2.58 

3. Buffalo 2. 42 

4. Washington 1. 86 

5. Newark 1.83 

6. Cincinnati 1. 81 

7. Milwaukee 1. 68 

8. Minneapolis 1.-65 

9. Los Angeles 1. 57 

10. New Orleans 1. 45 

Average 2. 08 



158 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

The per capita cost of maintaining the fire department in San 
Francisco is 80.7 per ceilt greater than the average for the 10 cities, 



*SAB FRABCISC0 $3.76 



Seattle 


2.58 


Buffalo 


2.42 


Washington 


1.86 


Bewark 


1.83 


Cincinnati 


1.61 


Milwaukee 


1.68 


Minneapolis 


1.65 


Los Angeles 


1.57 


Bew Orleans 


1.45 


AVERAGE 


2.08 



Figtjbe 55.— Cost of fire department per capita of population. 

and more than two and one-third times as much as the average for 
the lowest 4 cities in the list, $1.58, Table 105 and Figure 55. 

Table 106. — Per capita governmental cost payments for expenses for recreational pur- 
poses, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. Washington $1. 19 

2. SAN FRANCISCO 1.10 

3. Milwaukee , 96 

4. Newark „ 95 

5. Buffalo 86 

6. Los Angeles 79 

7. Minneapolis 64 

8. Seattle 58 

9. Cincinnati 45 

10. New Orleans 24 



Average 79 

San Francisco ranks second in the list in per capita expenditures 
for recreational purposes, Table 106. 

Table 107. — Per capita governmental cost payments for expenses of public-school depart- 
ment, 10 cities, 1915. 

1 . Los Angeles $9. 22 

2. Washington 6. 94 

3. Newark 6. 83 

4. Minneapolis 6. 43 

5. Cincinnati 5. 88 

6. Buffalo. 5. 82 

7. Milwaukee 5. 76 

8. Seattle 5.42 

9. SAN FRANCISCO , 4.61 

10. New Orleans 3. 02 



Average 6. 04 



THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 159 

In comparison with relative costs of other principal departments 
of city government, San Francisco's rank in per capita cost of main- 
tenance of public schools offers a remarkable contrast. The average 
for the 10 cities is 31 per cent greater than the amount in San 



Los Angeles 


$9. £2 


Washington 


6.94 


Bewark 


6.83 


Minneapolis 


6.43 


Clnolnnati 


5.88 


Buffalo 


5.82 


Milwaukee 


6.76 


Seattle 


5.42 


SAH FRAUCISCO 


4.61 


Hew Orleans 


3.02 


AV2KAGE 


6.04 



Figure 56.— Cost of maintenance of public-school department, per capita of population. 

Francisco, which ranks ninth in the list, Table 107 and Figure 56. 
Los Angeles spends twice as much as San Francisco, and the average 
for Washington and Newark, $6.88, is 49.2 per cent greater than the 
amount in San Francisco. 

Table 108. — Per cent of total governmental cost payments devoted to expenses of general 

government^ 10 cities, 1915. 

1. Seattle 16. 1 

2. Cincinnati 15. 1 

3. SAN FRANCISCO 14.7 

4. New Orleans 14. 1 

5. Los Angeles 12. 6 

6. Newark 11.9 

7. Buffalo 10. 9 

8. Minneapolis 10. 9 

9. Milwaukee 10. 2 

10. Washington 8. 5 

Total, ten cities 12. 5 

San Francisco ranks third in the list in per cent of total govern- 
mental expenditures devoted to expenses of general government, 



Seattle 


16.1 


Cincinnati 


15.1 


<SAH FRAUCISCO 


14.7 


Few Orleans 


14.1 


Los Angeles 


12.6 


Hewark 


11.9 


Buffalo 


10.9 


Minneapolis 


10.9 


Milwaukee 


10. E 


Washington 


8.5 



TOTAL 12.5 



Figure 57.— Per cent of total governmental expenditures devoted to expenses of general government, 1915. 

Table 108 and Figure 57. The amount is 17.6 per cent greater than 
the average for the 10 cities. 



160 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Table 109. — Per cent of total governmental cost -payments devoted to expenses of the 
police department, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. SAN FRANCISCO 14.1 

2. Newark 11. 7 

3. Buffalo 10. 8 

4. Washington 10. 1 

5. New Orleans 9. 2 

6. Cincinnati 9. 1 

7. Seattle 8. 5 

8. Milwaukee 8 

9. Los Angeles 6. 6 

10. Minneapolis 6. 6 

Total, ten cities 9. 6 

San Francisco ranks conspicuously ahead of the other cities in per 
cent of total governmental expenditures devoted to expenses of the 



*3AH FRABCISCO 


14.1 


Newark 


11.7 


Buffalo 


10.8 


Washington 


10.1 


New Orleans 


9.2 


Cincinnati 


9.1 


Seattle 


8.5 


Milwaukee 


8..0 


Los Angeles 


6.6 


Minneapolis 


6.6 



TOTAL 9.6 



Figure 58.— Per cent of total governmental expenditures devoted to expenses of the police department, 

1915. 

police department, Table 109 and Figure 58. The amount is 57.2 
per cent greater than the average for the 10 cities. 

Table 110. — Per cent of total governmental cost payments devoted to expenses of the 
fire department, 10 cities, 1915. 

1. SAN FRANCISCO 15.6 

2 . Seattle 12. 8 

3. New Orleans 10.8 

4. Buffalo 10. 6 

5. Minneapolis 8. 9 

6. Milwaukee •. . 8. 5 

7 . Newark 8.2 

8. Cincinnati 8. 1 

9. Washington 6.9 

10. Los Angeles 6 

Total, ten cities 9. 5 



%SAN FBABCISCO 


15.6 


Seattle 


12.8 


New Orleans 


10.8 


Buffalo 


10.6 


Minneapolis 


8.9 


Milwaukee 


8.5 


Newark 


8.2 


Cincinnati 


8.1 


Washington 


6.9 


Los Angeles 


6.0 



TOTAL 9.5' 



Figure 59.— Per cent of total[governmental expenditures devoted to expenses of the fire department, 1915. 



THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOLS. 161 

San Francisco also ranks conspicuously ahead of the other cities 
in per cent of total governmental expenditures devoted to expenses 
of the fire department, Table 110 and Figure 59. The amount is 
64.2 per cent greater than the average for the 10 cities. 

Table 111. — Per cent of total governmental cost payments devoted to expenses of the 

'public-school department, 10 cities, 1915. 

L. Los Angeles 35 

2. Minneapolis ■ 34. 6 

3 . Newark 30. 6 

4. Milwaukee 29 

5. Seattle 26.9 

6. Cincinnati 26. 3 

7. Washington 25. 8 

8. Buffalo 25. 5 

9. New Orleans '. 22. 4 

10. SAN FRANCISCO 19.1 

Total, ten cities 27. 6 

[f one city exceeds others in per cent of total governmental expen- 
ditures devoted to general government, police department, and fire 
department, it must necessarily balance these excesses by retrench- 
ment elsewhere. In per cent of the total devoted to expenses of the 



Los Angeles 


35.0 


Minneapolis 


34.6 


Newark 


30.6 


Milwaukee 


29.0 


Seattle 


26.9 


Cincinnati 


26.3 


Washington 


25.8 


Buffalo 


25.5 


New Orleans 


22.4 


♦SAN FRANCISCO 


19.1 



TOTAL 27.6 



FiGUBE 60.— Per cent of total governmental expenditures devoted to expenses of public-school depart- 
ment, 1915. 

public school department San Francisco ranks lowest in the list, 
Table 111 and Figure 60. The average for the 10 cities is 44.5 per 
cent greater than the per cent in San Francisco; and the average 
for the first two cities in the fist, 34.8 per cent, is 82.1 per cent greater 
than the per cent in San Francisco. 

SUMMARY. 

I. The necessity for making a comprehensive building program 
will soon make heavy demands on the board of education. There is 
need even now for funds for the construction of necessary school- 
houses to provide for the increased growth of schools and to replace 
certain undesirable buildings now in use. The needed funds can be 
procured only through the further issuance of school bonds 
93815—17 11 



162 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

2. The board of supervisors in setting the school levy has been 
obliged to exceed the limit of the tax rate as provided in the city 
and county charter in order to procure sufficient revenue to support 
the schools. The situation thus created should be remedied by 
amendment to the charter, as recommended elsewhere. 

3. The gradual increase in the school budget has no more than 
kept pace with the increase in the number of children to be educated, 
whereas such expenditures in the country as a whole have increased 
much more rapidly than the number of children. 

4. In comparison with other cities, San Francisco has assumed 
almost no financial burden in connection with such auxiliary agen- 
cies as school libraries, library books, promotion of health, provision 
for school lunches, community lectures, and social centers. 

5. The cost of conducting the schools per pupil has remained 
practically stationary since 1908. General increase in prices of 
commodities during the past 9 years, and adjustment of the school 
system to a reasonable degree of improvement in methods and 
equipment, should have caused a greater increase in the cost per 
pupil than has actually taken place. 

6. Comparing San Francisco and the 9 other cities in the same 
population class, San Francisco possesses more municipal property 
devoted to general governmental purposes than any other city in 
the list; the value of property employed or held for the use of the 
police department in San Francisco is nearly three and one-half 
times as much as the average for the 10 cities, and for the fire de- 
partment nearly four times the average, while the value of school 
property in San Francisco is only 40.1 per cent greater than the 
average. 

7. San Francisco ranks fourth in the list of cities in total amount 
of indebtedness for all purposes and also in school indebtedness, 
although sixth in per capita indebtedness in both cases. 

8. San Francisco ranks considerably below the average of the 
10 cities in current expenditures for public schools, although out- 
ranking all the other cities in cost of maintaining the city government, 
fire and police departments. 

9. San Francisco ranks conspicuously ahead of the other cities in 
per cent of total governmental expenditures devoted to expenses 
of both police and fire departments, but is lowest in the list in per 
cent devoted to school expenditures* 



Chapter V. 

SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 

Many things connected with the care, upkeep, and use of the school 
buildings of San Francisco could be made better at slight cost, but 
for the most part these defects are obvious to teachers, principals, 
superintendents, and others concerned, and it is not the purpose of 
this part of this report to point out these defects in detail. Closer 
supervision, a more practical cooperation between the school authori- 
ties and those who supervise the construction and repair of school 
buildings, or, better still, the putting of the construction and repair 
of buildings under the direction of the board of education, as recom- 
mended in Chapter III of this report, and a more generous financial 
support of the schools will make it possible to correct many of these 
deficiencies at once, without further recommendations. Many can 
not be corrected until old buildings and buildings intended only 
for temporary use are replaced by new buildings constructed on 
modern scientific plans. 

While it will be necessary to point out certain conditions that 
should be corrected in the buildings now in use, more service can be 
done by directing attention to those established general rules and 
principles which should guide in the construction, equipment, and care 
of the buildings to be erected in the future, than by merely reporting 
on conditions as they now exist. 

LOCATION OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

The school authorities of the city of San Francisco have an un- 
usually difficult task in securing proper sites for school buildings, 
because of the peculiar topography of the land upon which the city 
has been built. For the most part the level land is low and lies 
nearest the bay. But here, of necessity, are located the large manu- 
facturing industries. Here also are the steam railways, and all the 
noise, smoke, and dirt incident to these conditions. In addition, the 
great wharves and the busy traffic of a great world port are contiguous. 

Congregated about these sections are the homes of many of the 
workmen employed. Altogether there are few sites in these dis- 
tricts which are sufficiently high, dry, large enough, and sufficiently 

163 



164 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

removed from the noise, smoke, and danger of traffic to warrant 
the location upon them of good school buildings. However, the 
children in these sections must be accommodated. Therefore, the 
sooner the board of education can select sites now needed and those 
that will be needed in the near future, the better they will be able to 
serve the children under their charge. 

Boards of education ought to have power under proper limita- 
tions to anticipate needs and secure sites of sufficient size and in 
strategic locations before the actual needs drive them to the market 
to take what is left, often at an exorbitant price; or to be compelled 
to institute condemnation proceedings at large expense. 

The main residence portions of San Francisco are hilly regions, 
where hillsides are the only available sites for school buildings. This 
Tenders the problem of orientation and lighting very difficult, and 
makes it almost impossible to secure playgrounds of sufficient size in 
connection with schools. But even under these untoward condi- 
tions, certain demands can be met and definite errors can be pre- 
vented by using caution in the selection of sites. 

In the first place, sites selected should permit the planning of 
buildings in such a manner as to command east or west light in all 
the classrooms, or at least in as many as possible. This will save 
almost endless trouble. 

In the second place, the site should be removed from street-car 
tracks at least one block, and as far as possible from all noisy fac- 
tories and other objectionable or troublesome environments. Fre- 
quently tall buildings interfere with light, and a congested tenement 
district renders the fire hazard much greater. Moreover, the possi- 
bility of securing thorough drainage both from the building and of 
the lot is a matter of prime importance. 

The Francis Scott Key School offers an illustration of the serious 
mistake of locating a building on a lot which is fairly well situated, 
but not large enough. At the time the building was constructed no 
street sewer had been laid. This of itself should have called for the 
utmost care in placing the building so as to take advantage of every 
possible eventuality. But instead of placing the building on the 
east side of the lot, which is much higher than the west, the latter 
position was selected. As a consequence, the septic tank which was 
constructed has given much trouble, and it is reported that when 
the sewer was finally laid in the street, it was placed at a level higher 
than the basement of the building. Consequently, either the whole 
building will have to be raised or connections made with a lower 
sewer at a greater distance. 

At the time of the inspection the toilet seats in one part of the 
building were overflowing, due to the height of the water in the septic 
tank. In addition to this serious trouble, the drainage of the lot is 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 165 

toward the building and not away from it, as would have happened 
if the building had been placed on the east side. Mistakes like this 
are very serious. 

Another instance of lack of proper foresight in locating a building 
on the lot, or at least in planning the building so as to minimize 
difficulties, is seen at the Polytechnic High School. It would have 
been better in almost every particular to place the recitation or 
class rooms of this building on the upper side of the slope, away from 
the noise of the street cars, and if need be to put the shops near the 
noise on the lower side. This would have saved endless difficulties 
with noise and dust and also made it easier to install the heating 
plant. The building might not have made as impressive an appear- 
ance thus arranged, but appearance is secondary to usefulness. As 
it now is, the part of the building most used is in the worst place. 

It is a serious matter to locate a school building constructed to 
serve the children and the cause of education for a hundred years, 
and no pains should be spared to anticipate every possible difficulty. 

Certain buildings must in time be enlarged to meet the demands 
of increasing attendance, and the sooner the board lays out a pro- 
gram toward which to work the more satisfactory will be the result. 
For example, the Commercial High School must soon have more 
room, else it can not accommodate the students or serve the interests 
of the city successfully. The lot upon which the present library 
building is located, and that part of the block lying east, should be 
set aside for future extensions of this school. It will not be many 
years until the whole block will be too small for the buildings needed. 

The Starr King School is handicapped unnecessarily by privately 
owned lots cutting into the playground in an awkward and trouble- 
some fashion. These lots have on them buildings in bad repair, and 
their surroundings were in an insanitary condition when the inspec- 
tion was made. A stream of foul water breaking from this higher 
ground was running across the playground, hindering the children 
at play, rendering the school premises unsightly, and possibly intro- 
ducing septic material. These lots rightfully belong to the school 
ground and should be acquired for school use. These are only 
examples of many similar situations. 

PLAYGROUNDS. 

If all the classrooms in the San Francisco schools were combined 
into one great room, and if all the playgrounds about all the school 
buildings were combined into one large playground, the square feet 
of classroom floor would greatly exceed the square feet of play- 
ground. In other words, the floor surface of the classrooms of San 
Francisco schools is much larger than the playground surface. It 
is very clear, therefore, that there is practically no opportunity 



166 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

offered for the free and unhindered play of the school children. In 
a few places there are handball grounds and some playground ap- 
paratus, but for the most part the playgrounds are covered with 
asphaltum cement or boards, and there is little opportunity for the 
freedom and abandon that children need in play. 

To this there are some exceptions. It is a great delight to see the 
joy of the children playing in the sand at the Lafayette School. A 
few other schools might be mentioned where fair opportunities for 
play are offered, but practically nowhere surrounding the public 
schools of San Francisco are there playgrounds worthy of the name. 
They furnish some opportunity for the children to get an airing and 
for a few possible games, but if the boys wish to play a real ball 
game, they must go elsewhere. 

The movement for closer correlation of public playgrounds and 
the city schools is to be commended, and it is to be hoped that through 
it larger playgrounds may be obtained for all schools. Opportunity 
for out- door games under wholesome conditions tends to prevent 
truancy and juvenile delinquency. The parks and various public 
grounds now open' to the children of San Francisco are serving to 
lessen the the criminal tendencies of the growing youth of the city 
more than many people appreciate. But these opportunities are 
meager and are completely out of reach of many children who need 
them most. In the future no permanent buildings should be erected 
on grounds too small to afford proper opportunities for play. If 
choice must be made between two sites, one centrally located in the 
section to be served but with no room for playgrounds, and one less 
centrally located but with good ground for the building and also 
for outdoor playgrounds, the latter should always be chosen. 

For example, the Parental School could be of far more service to 
the boys if it were placed on the outskirts of the city, away from the 
very environment which is partly responsible for their delinquency, 
where they could have their own playground, plenty of space for 
gardens, and that access to nature so interesting and necessary to 
all boys. 

The saving in the cost of land would more than compensate for 
all the extra outlay involved. It is a much less serious matter for 
grade children to be compelled to walk a mile or two in the mild 
climate of San Francisco than to be cooped up night and day with 
no chance for real unhindered play with their fellows. A certain 
blindness slowly acquired with the years prevents adults from seeing 
child life as it is, and judging of real values for them. 

LIGHTING OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

The problem of lighting school buildings in San Francisco offers 
in the main less difficulty than that of most eastern cities, because 
of the preponderance of bright and sunny days. If, therefore, 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 167 

proper precautions are taken in the orientation of school buildings 
and the amount and setting of the glazing are carefully considered, 
there should be comparatively little difficulty in securing ample 
light and of the best quality. 

In all the newer buildings of San Francisco this principle of uni- 
lateral lighting is applied. In older buildings, especially those that 
were built some 30 or 40 years ago this principle was disregarded, 
and as a result many of the classrooms are dark and improperly 
lighted. 1 In the days when these buildings were erected, the prob- 
lems of school hygiene had not been carefully considered. 

The next problem having to do with lighting depends upon the 
orientation of the building. If the school building is so placed on 
the lot and so planned as to receive the light into the classrooms from 
the east or west, the best conditions, other things equal, will prevail. 
No argument is necessary to prove to Californians the value of sun- 
shine in the climate about the bay, both for health and for comfort . 
Hence no classroom for the elementary grades should receive its 
light from the north. On the other hand, because the light from the 
south is the strongest light, and in a way most cheering, and in addi- 
tion has the advantage of keeping the room warm in cold weather, 
many have jumped to the conclusion that the south light in class- 
rooms is the best light. This is a serious error, because of the diffi- 
culty of keeping the direct rays of the sun from falling upon the desks 
of the children while they are at work. 

South light on sunny days is one of the most disturbing problems 
the teacher has to deal with in the latitude and climate of San Fran- 
cisco, for it is necessary to shut out the direct rays of the sun for 
the sake of the children who sit in the first and second rows from the 
windows. But when this is done, those who sit on the opposite side 
of the room are debarred from sufficient light to make it possible to do 
their work in the most hygienic manner. 

Furthermore, when the windows open on the south, the rays of 
the sun never stream entirely across the room, as happens in early 
morning or late afternoon when the windows open to the east or 
west ; therefore, the classrooms are not as thoroughly purified by the 
south sun as by the east or west sun. The best disinfectant known 
to science is direct sunshine, and classrooms should be so constructed 
as to be flooded by it some time of the day. 

When classrooms open to the east, the early morning sun sweeps 
entirely across the room, if there is no hindrance from tall buildings 
and foggy or cloudy weather. Within an hour or so after school has 
begun, the east sun has practically disappeared from the classroom, 
and the shades can then be rolled up for the day and no further 
attention given to them until the next morning. This insures the 

1 For example, in the Horace Mann, the Moulder, the Fremont, and similar schools. 



168 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

advantages mentioned as well as the value of the early sun in warm- 
ing such classrooms. 

On the other hand, those classrooms which receive their light from 
the west have no trouble with direct sunshine until shortly before 
the close of school for the day, and in fact in the primary classes it 
does not disturb at all, for the children are dismissed before the wesi 
sun comes into the windows in a disturbing way. Hence, in class- 
rooms receiving their light from the west, there is comparatively 
little difficulty in handling shades and furnishing the children the 
best possible light. No shade has been invented, nor quality of glass 
made, which will prevent the disturbing effects of direct sunlight, 
and at the same time permit the passage of sufficient light into a 
classroom to satisfy all the demands of health. 

The board of education and all those who have to do with planning 
and constructing school buildings should make an especial effort to 
apply health principles in the selection of school sites, in the planning 
of school buildings, and in the placing of windows. These problems 
have been solved in some of the newer buildings of the city in an 
admirable manner; in others they have been entirely neglected. The 
Sarah B. Cooper School, in which each classroom gets either east or 
west light, is an illustration of good lighting. While this building is 
on a steep hillside, the west exposure is not interfered with to any 
serious extent, save by the higher horizon line resulting from the hiD 
further to the west. 

In contrast, the Columbus School is so planned that all the class- 
rooms get the south sun . This makes it very difficult for the teachers 
to care for all the children properly and does not permit as complete 
sunning of the rooms as would prevail if the building had been set 
so as to get east or west light. 

Practically all the old buildings are improperly lighted; but except 
in a few instances the board will not deem it wise to go to the expense 
of making extensive changes in these buildings for the few years they 
will be kept in the service. Some of them, however, could be made 
more acceptable at comparatively small expense, and should be 
changed at once. 

The principles thus stated are meant to apply chiefly to the class- 
rooms of the elementary schools, though the same holds true for the 
ordinary classrooms of high schools. However, provision must be 
made for offices, lunchrooms, libraries, manual training shops, etc., 
and in high schools, laboratories, art rooms, and othefr rooms for 
various purposes. It is evident that south sun in libraries is not so 
troublesome, because the readers can adjust themselves to the light 
in an easy and satisfactory way. So, too, in laboratories for physics, 
chemistry, physiology, and biology. Not only is it admissible, but it- 
is better, to have such laboratories receive the south sun. -For 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 169 

example, in the Girls' High School, the biology room is placed on the 
north side, where the plant and animal life necessary for the work in 
biology can not be developed properly without sunshine. 

In the same way, the physics room opening to the north would 
handicap the experiments in light, in addition to rendering the room 
less wholesome. The south light in laboratories is therefore not only 
admissible, but many times very helpful. Plainly the principal's 
office and the lunchroom could also be planned to receive the south 
light without serious objection, and in fact often advantageously: 
but this is not true of classrooms. 

The investigation failed to show a single classroom in the latitude 
of San Francisco satisfactory when lighted from the south or the 
north. Special inquiry was made of the teachers who were using 
such rooms. Many teachers said the room getting light from the 
south was cheery and bright, but when asked if any trouble had 
arisen in handling shades and preventing the direct rays of the sun 
from falling on the desks of the children, they invariably admitted 
that there had been difficulties. Not infrequently the children on the 
side opposite the windows were found suffering all day long because 
the shades had been pulled down to shut out the sun. 

In the climate of San Francisco, if the glass surface for windows 
equals one-fifth of the floor surface of the classroom, and the windows 
are properly placed, sufficient light can be usually secured without 
difficulty. This is true, however, only when the windows are properly 
placed. The bottom of the window should be 4 feet above the floor 
in all classrooms, except those designed especially for the primary 
classes, and should be set as high in the ceiling as safety of construc- 
tion will permit. All light should come from above a line on a level 
with the eyes of the children when they are seated at their desks, so 
that their eyes may be adjusted for the work at hand rather than for 
the light that would come directly into their eyes from without. 
Never should there be more than 6 inches between the top of the win- 
dow and the ceiling. This insures that the light will carry well 
across the room, and at the same time receive the best exposure from 
the sky. One foot of light surface at the top is worth two or three 
feet at the bottom. 

In the next place, the windows should be grouped as closely 
together as possible, and set to the left and rear of the children as 
they are seated in the classroom. This is one of the hygienic require- 
ments that architects are inclined to neglect, on account of the 
difficulty of securing balanced effects in elevation. The difficulty is 
not to be denied, but children's eyes are worth more than traditionfof 
architectural effects. 

If windows are extended along the whole side of the classroom from 
the left rear corner to the left front corner, the windows in front near 



170 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBASTCISCO. 



the teacher will be worse than useless. To be sure, the room as a 
whole would receive more light. But the light that comes into the 
front of the room will seriously handicap the children as they are 
seated at their desks, especially those seated in the rear, for this light 
would shine directly into their eyes, and thereby automatically adjust 
the eyes to an amount of light greater than that reflected from the 
page of the book; hence> there would be a constant conflict between 
the demands of the light on the work to be done and the light that 
comes in from the window and shines directly into their eyes. 

Special attention was given to noting the location of the windows 
iD all classrooms in the newer buildings as well as in the older ones, 
and it was a rare thing indeed to find the windows properly placed. 
The prevailing custom is to group the windows and place them in the 
center of the room, giving equal space to the rear and to the front in 
which no windows are placed. It is far more satisfactory from the 



•U 



31'- O" 



SUGGESTED ARRANGEMENT OF WINDOW SPACE 



Figtjke 61.— The windows in a schoolroom should be grouped as close together as possible, toward the 
rear of the room, with sills 4 feet above the floor level, 

standpoint of the health and convenience of the children to put the 
rear window as near the back of the room as the construction will 
permit, and to leave the front outer side of the room with as much 
unglazed space as possible. Again and again in classrooms having 
windows all along the sides we tested the children and the teachers, 
and invariably found that it was much easier for them if the shades 
were drawn over the front window than it was to leave them all 
open. 

The architects who plan future buildings should therefore be 
required as far as possible to place their windows in the rear to the 
left, and to leave such dead space as will result in the outer wall in 
the front end of the classroom. Figure 61 illustrates the proper 
arrangement of the windows in a room 24 by 31 feet with a 12i-foot 
ceiling. The architectural difficulties involved are problems for the 
architect to solve, and no architect should be excused from meeting 
these conditions in a satisfactory way. 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 17 1 

It was observed throughout all the newer and better buildings of 
the city that the architects have been striving to find a kind of 
window sash which will make it possible for the classrooms to be 
turned into open-air rooms, or at least to afford the best possible 
window ventilation. This is a commendable effort. In no case, 
however, was the new patented sash found entirely satisfactory. 
In the new Denman School and in others where the windows are 
hung on pivots, some of the windows were blown in during a recent 
storm, and the buildings were damaged as a result of the heavy rain. 
The only sash to which objection was not urged, and which did not 
offer serious difficulties, is the old-fashioned, double-hung sash. 
Naturally, by the use of these only half of the window space can be 
open at one time, while with the pivoted sash it is possible to open 
the whole window space for free and easy ventilation; but this pos- 
sibility is more theoretical than practical, for in many cases there 
was no one about the school building who was able to handle them 
properly because of one difficulty or another. The windows are 
large and the sash is heavy and somewhat hard to adjust, especially 
to hold in place. A few instances were reported where children were 
hurt as a result of the pivoted windows being blown in and striking 
them. 

In this connection it might not be out of place to say that as long 
as San Francisco schools are so completely managed by women — 
principals, teachers, and janitors — it is necesary that architects plan 
to use only such windows as it is possible for women to handle safely 
and easily. Notwithstanding some of the difficulties involved, there- 
fore, the old-fashioned, double-hung windows will prove more satis- 
factory than any patented sash now in use in the city, except it be 
in high schools, or in other buildings where men are at hand to 
manage them. This is simply a matter of adjustment to physical 
strength. 

The patented sash also offers certain special difficulties with shades. 
With double-hung windows, it is better to have two shades fastened 
two-fifths of the way from the bottom of the window to the top, the 
upper to pull up and the lower to pull down. A similar use of 
shades in the newer buildings with the various forms of patented 
window sash was not generally satisfactory. 

The shape of a window has much to do with its effectiveness as a 
means of transmitting light. A window arched at the top, with 
heavy cross bars dividing it into an upper transomlike window and 
into an ordinary window below, is apparently more ornamental than 
useful. An arched window cuts out an appreciable portion of the best 
light, and hence, other things equal, should not be used. A mistake 
in this regard is especially serious in a one-story building like the 
Lincoln School. With a window 8 feet high, as suggested, there is 
no need to divide it into two parts, except by the sash, and this will 



172 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 

not only reduce the expense materially, but will also make it much 
easier to keep the building clean and neat. 

Many of the windows of the schools in the city during the month 
of February, when this part of the survey was being made, were 
exceedingly dirt}^. Inquiry showed that these windows had not 
been washed since the summer vacation, and, furthermore, that the 
janitors were not permitted to wash them, as this part of the school 
service was being done under contract by a window washing com- 
pany. 

The windows on the east side of the Garfield School, for example, 
were not only sufficiently spattered with mud and dust to make 
them unsightly, but they were so dirty that the light was appreciably 
lessened. The windows of many other buildings were also very 
dirty, inside and out. It is difficult to see how, under the present 
system of window cleaning, it would be possible for the principal 
to have the windows ^washed promptly when they are actually in 
need of it. It was reported that a certain amount of money was 
subtracted each month from the janitor's regular salary and paid 
to this company for keeping the windows clean. The plan is cer- 
tainly a failure, because the windows were not clean, and so far as 
could be ascertained not over hah of them were washed more than 
twice a year. Naturally it is difficult in some of the larger buildings, 
and especially in tall buildings, for women janitors to wash windows, 
or even men janitors who are not supplied with ladders and suffi- 
cient equipment to make it comparatively easy and safe to wash them. 
Some method or plan which will insure better results should be de- 
vised immediately. 

BLACKBOARDS. 

In the long run slate blackboards are the most economical boards 
to use in all well-constructed permanent buildings. It is justifi- 
able to place composition boards in temporary buildings, and in 
repair work in old buildings, but even there they are never satis- 
factory: • 

So far none of the manufactured blackboards have overcome the 
difficulty incident to the reflection of high lights, especially after a 
period of use. They all become glossy after they have been used 
for a time, and hence increasingly reflect the light. In addition, 
they do not take the chalk so readily, can not be washed safely, and 
do not give as good quality of line as slate. Many of the blackboards 
now in use in San Francisco are so badly worn and so glossy that 
they should be replaced at once. 

A good illustration of the false economy of using a poor quality 
of material for blackboards is to be seen in the Garfield School, a 
"special construction" building costing over $100,000, which has 
been in use less than six years. The blackboards in this new build- 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 173 

ing are already in bad condition and should be replaced at once. In 
many other buildings, both new and old, the same general condition of 
blackboards may be found. 

It is therefore recommended that in all future "permanent" 
buildings a good quality of slate be used for all blackboards, and 
that special supervision be given when these are set. This will 
prove both economical and far more satisfactory to the health, 
comfort, and educational progress of the children. 

After proper material has been specified for blackboards, the next 
thing of vital importance in securing the most satisfactory use of 
boards is to set them properly. When slate boards are used, the 
walls must be properly prepared to receive them, so that they will 
rest firmly and solidly against the walls; panels must be matched 
so that the joints will be even and regular. This requires skill and 
specialized labor and can not be safely intrusted to the ordinary 
plasterer or cement worker. If a slate board is set on an uneven 
backing, it will withdraw or warp and become noisy when in use. 

Perhaps the most serious mistake made in locating the blackboards 
in nearly all of the new buildings is that of bad placing with refer- 
ence to their height above the floor. Less than 10 per cent were 
properly set to meet the plain demands of the best use. For exam- 
ple, in the Madison School, a new " special construe tion" building, 
the lower part of the blackboards is placed less than 20 inches above 
the floor. Practically the same mistake was made in the great 
majority of the newer buildings. This is far too low for even the 
first-grade children. No child of school age can write comfortably 
on the lower part of a blackboard thus set without kneeling on the 
floor and soiling his clothes, and what is probably more serious from 
an educational point of view, he is absolutely unable to do his best 
writing in such a position. 

Many experiments were made with the children to test this point. 
They were sent to the boards to write a column of figures or words 
each beginning at that height on the board where the writing could 
be done most satisfactorily. The attention of the teachers was 
then called to the fact that the writing degenerated toward the 
bottom of the column, and that when it got below a certain point, 
varying as the height of the children varied, it became clearly impos- 
sible for them to write easily and correctly. Consequently, for the 
most part all the work done on a blackboard below the height at 
which a child can write well is such as to establish habits of poor 
writing, or at least to interfere with the very habits the teachers 
are striving to establish. 

Therefore, to prevent the children from soiling their clothing by 
kneeling on the floor and gathering more chalk dust on their cloth- 
ing than they would otherwise gather, and also to save them from 



174 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

establishing bad habits in writing, it is recommended that in all 
school buildings to be constructed in the future blackboards be set 
approximately as follows: For first and second grades, 26 inches 
above the floor; third and fourth, 28 inches; fifth and sixth, 30 
inches; seventh and eighth, 32 inches; high schools, 36 inches. 

There is no reason in setting the boards for all the grades at the 
same height, on the theory that each child can then select that part 
of the board which will be most satisfactory. The facts of practice 
show that this theory is rarely if ever intelligently followed. Besides, 
when blackboards are properly placed, there is in general little need, 
except for the teacher's directions, for making them- over 42 inches 
wide instead of 4 feet as was usually found. Hence, here is not only 
a saving in light absorption, but a reduction in the cost of material. 
Moreover, when boards are too wide the chalk troughs catch less of 
the dust falling from the upper part, and this adds to the difficulty 
of keeping the room tidy and sanitary. Work written on the 
bottom of a low set board can not be seen readily by the pupils 
when seated at their desks. 

HEATING AND VENTILATION. 

The general method of using low-pressure steam for heating all 
the newer buildings is to be commended, and the use of oil as a fuel 
renders it possible to keep a more uniform temperature and to adjust 
the heat better than can be done when coal is used. But when the 
furnace room is so placed as to cause the noise of the burning oil 
to disturb the classrooms above, a definite mistake has been made. 
In planning for the future, especially when oil is to be used as a 
fuel, this question of disturbance should be considered very care- 
fully and the furnace so placed and the blower so arranged as to 
minimize the noise. 

Where conditions permit, it is always better to place the heating 
arrangement as far from the center of the building as possible, and 
to remove it from the main structure if sufficient space is at com- 
mand. Especially is this true in case high-pressure boilers are used. 
In the Girls' High School the disturbance from the fans and the 
furnace below is exceedingly annoying, both as to noise and vibra- 
tion. A better placing here would have saved a great amount of 
disturbance and difficulty as well as have rendered the building and 
the students much safer. 

The prevailing present practice of using fans to drive the fresh 
air over steam coils, and to introduce this warm air into the building 
by the plenum system, can be satisfactory only in cold weather, and 
this is rare for San Francisco. To be sure, if ducts leading from the 
plenum to the various rooms in the building are properly adjusted, 
so as to equalize the pressure in the various rooms, and the radiation 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 175 

surface is of sufficient extent to warm the air, the rooms can be kept 
heated without difficulty; but only on condition that the windows 
be kept closed; and this introduces another difficulty. It is not only 
important to have the proper temperature in a classroom, but in 
this climate it is of greater importance to have good ventilation. 
This can not be accomplished with the fan system unless ample 
fans and ducts are provided and so placed as to equalize the pressure 
and introduce a sufficient amount of air to keep it moving in the 
classroom in order to meet the health requirements. 

It is a common thing in the new buildings to use one small fan to 
drive air into 15 or more classrooms, plus offices, halls, and other 
rooms. This makes adequate ventilation an utter impossibility. 
Every classroom which depended entirely upon fans for ventilation 
was either too warm, or too impure, or both, to be wholesome for the 
children. 

Fans should be supplied with sufficient power to deliver at least 
2,000 cubic feet of air an hour for each child and teacher in the 
building, to say nothing of halls and other spare rooms, or else the 
fans should not be used, and heat be obtained from direct radiation 
in the classrooms themselves and ventilation secured through the 
proper use of windows. The purpose of this statement is not neces- 
sarily to condemn the plenum system of ventilation, but to condemn 
the use of inadequate fan power and improper adjustment of the 
ducts leading from the plenum chamber to the various rooms. 

During the month of February the weather was in the main very 
mild, and on many days it was not necessary to have a fire at all. 
On such days the fans were not running and the teachers depended 
upon the windows for ventilation. Through close observation and 
experiment it was determined that under these conditions the air 
was more wholesome in the classrooms than on those days when fire 
was needed and the fans were running and the windows closed. 

If the plenum system is to be used at all, it must be adequate to 
supply every possible demand when fans are running at a medium 
speed, and should be used whether there are fires or not. But inva- 
riably it was found that when the janitors ceased firing, they stopped 
the fans. This was usually about noon time, and when teachers did 
not immediately open the windows children were compelled to breathe 
impure air. 

In some buildings — f or example, the Star King — direct radiation in 
the classrooms from low-pressure steam is proving entirely satisfac- 
tory, and the teachers depend upon the windows for ventilation. 
In a few other buildings depending upon direct radiation it was 
evident from the complaint that the teachers offered of not being able 
to get sufficient heat in cold weather that insufficient radiating sur- 
face had been provided. In these cases especially the wall type of 



176 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

radiators had been used, and these, as is well known, do not afford 
per lineal- foot as much radiating surface as the ordinary type of 
radiator resting upon the floor. Such errors need not be made, for 
it can be determined by heating engineers exactly how much radiating 
surface will be required in a given-sized classroom to meet all condi- 
tions of San Francisco weather. 

It is always well to demand adequate heating equipment to meet 
the needs of the most severe weather rather than of milder weather 
only, and then by the use of various automatic adjustments to 
regulate the temperature to suit the demands in the classroom. 

It was very interesting to note the condition of the air and the 
regulation of the temperature in the old buildings heated entirely by 
small coal stoves in each classroom and to compare the conditions 
with those in the modern buildings depending upon a central heating 
plant and fans. It was really surprising to see how much better the 
old buildings were in this respect than the new. It was seldom that 
there were found classrooms in the old buildings depending upon 
stoves for heating and windows for ventilation in which the air was 
aot fresh and pure and the temperature at approximately 65°. On 
the other hand, rooms were found in the new buildings with the 
temperature above 80° and the air stuffy and the children drowsy. 
This does not indicate that the newer buildings should be heated by 
3toves in each room. A much more thoroughgoing study of heating 
and ventilation requirements for San Francisco climate should be 
made by engineers before other buildings are constructed. There is 
Qowhere else in our country a climate exactly comparable to that of 
San Francisco, and these conditions must be met. 

This can be done in many ways. A system of plenum ventilation 
and indirect heating can be devised that will prove entirely satis- 
factory if properly handled; but it is far better not to attempt to 
use this system unless it is entirely adequate to meet the needs. One 
small fan is not enough for 20 classrooms, and one small fan, or even 
one large fan, set in the center of the room with ducts leading to the 
remote rooms in the building makes it very doubtful, because of the 
prevailing winds, that all parts of the building can be property heated 
and adequately ventilated. Winds are much greater disturbing ele- 
ments in this system of ventilation than is ordinarily supposed, even 
though the walls of the building be made of brick or concrete. 

On the whole, taking all conditions into consideration, both as to 
expense and more especially as to the welfare of the children, a prop- 
erly-installed system of direct radiation and a conscientious use of 
the windows for ventilation will yield better results than any fan 
system observed in the city. 

It can not be stated too earnestly that anything that is worth 
doing is worth doing well. If it is worth while to install a fan system 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 177 

so as to wash the air and insure both clean and pure air to classrooms, 
then no expense must be spared to install an apparatus that will 
insure it and to secure intelligent and competent mechanics to 
manage, supervise, and keep such systems in order. 

It stands to reason that it is entirely possible to make an almost 
perfect system of ventilation by the use of fans, air washer, and the 
proper adjustment of inlets and exits; but it is equally reasonable 
that these must be adjusted so as to meet demands in an easy way 
and to be subject to the control of those who know what they are 
supposed to do, how they work, how they can be properly corrected 
when out of adjustment, and tested out frequently so as to see exactly 
what they are doing. 

Unless a system of mechanical ventilation is installed correctly, 
and is entirely adequate to meet the demands at all times when run- 
ning at a reasonable rate, then it is better not to install it at all. 
Nowhere in the city were the teachers satisfied with the system of 
plenum ventilation installed in the newer buildings, because they 
were directed to keep the windows closed, and yet the fans were 
insufficient to give the adequate amount of fresh air needed. Thus 
it became necessary for the teachers either to disobey these require- 
ments for the sake of the health of the children or to allow many of 
them to suffer. As one principal told me, "In direct opposition to 
orders, it is absolutely necessary to open windows for fresh air, as 
classrooms become so foul." 

It must* not be inferred that this criticism is directed against the 
plenum system per se. It is only against an improper, an incom- 
plete, and inadequate use of the system. One of the school officers 
stated that the system has proved unsatisfactory except in the cases 
of the Lowell High School and the Girls' High School, where the 
plants are run by well-qualified engineers. It is certain that better 
results can be secured by such engineers than by those who know 
very little about the machinery used and possibly nothing about 
the adjustments necessary. But even a good engineer can not 
drive in a sufficient amount of air with insufficient fan force back of it. 

The thermostat system is a necessary part of centrally heated 
school buildings. The thermostats in use in San Francisco have 
given a great deal of trouble, because they have not been properly 
understood and hence are not properly supervised by the janitors. It 
was rare indeed to find the thermostat in any building properly 
adjusted. Responsibility for this condition was not definitely placed, 
but clearly no mechanic who is not in the building all the time could 
be expected to give as close attention to these as the janitors ought 
to give. 

93815—17 — -12 



178 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

When a classroom on the south side of a building is registering 
70° or 75° and a classroom on the north side is registering 60°, it is 
evident that either there is not enough central heat to keep the 
north side of the building warm, or that the thermostat on the south 
side does not regulate the temperature needed; or, in brief, that the 
system of thermostats is not giving proper service. 

Necessarily, if a teacher has to open windows under such condi- 
tions in order to relieve her children from the undue heat, the rooms 
in the cooler parts of the building will suffer still more. Again it 
needs to be emphasized that as long as the plenum system is used to 
distribute the heat through the buildings the thermostats must be 
kept in perfect order and must be examined daily in order to see if 
troubles exist and where. 

This suggests one thing about which architects and engineers 
should be cautioned. In many of the newer buildings the con- 
trolling apparatus connected with the thermostats is so badly placed 
that it can not easily be inspected and corrected when out of order. 
Some buildings were found in which it was necessary to creep through 
small doors into dirty and windy places in order to find the controls. 
In others the controls were placed very high in the ceiling, thereby 
making it difficult to examine them frequently and correct them 
when out of adjustment. 

In general, the schools of San Francisco are to be commended on 
the fact that the children have been taught to demand a lower tem- 
perature in schoolrooms than is generally demanded in 'the East. 
A number of classrooms were observed where the temperature regis- 
tered but slightly over 60°, and the children were not only contented 
but entirely comfortable. The teachers expressed themselves as 
thoroughly satisfied if they could command at all times a tempera- 
ture of 65°. This is ample. Overheated classrooms are among the 
most effective agents for disturbing the health and killing the in- 
terest of the children. 

Another condition connected with the air supply of all buildings 
depending on the plenum system should be pointed out. The fresh- 
air intakes leading to the fans are practically all too near the ground, 
and many of them open toward dusty streets or other sources from 
which much dust or foul air is drawn into the building. When the 
air washers are in operation much of this dust is ehminated before 
it is driven into the classrooms, but when they are not in operation 
the opposite is necessarily true. 

If the fresh-air supply were drawn from a higher level, say above 
a level with the basement ceiling, or even from above the roof, it 
would be much easier to keep the classrooms and the building as a 
whole freer from dust. 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AXD GBOUNDS. 179 

There are many things connected with the ventilation of schooi 
buildings still in doubt, and no attempt has been made to go into these 
intricate and unsettled problems. The climate of San Francisco, 
because of prevailing winds and general mild weather, introduces 
local difficulties that should be thoroughly studied by competent 
engineers and school officers. 

It might not be out of place to say in this connection that many of 
the janitors, in whose buildings a central system of heating and 
ventilation is installed, do not appreciate the necessity of keeping 
the chambers, through which the air from the outside passes, abso- 
lutely clean. In many cases the plenum chamber contained paint 
cans, oil cans, and mops, and in one case a great pile of kindling was 
in the chamber. This of course means that not only the air in passing 
from the fans to the various rooms is impeded in its movement by the 
friction thus caused, but more especially that all odors and dust and 
dirt allowed to collect here are blown directly into the schoolroom . 

Any sort of careful thinking would make it plain that these rooms 
should be kept spotlessly clean and as free from any leakage from 
other parts of the basement as possible. In a number of cases the 
doors leading toward the fan do not fit closety, and a perceptible 
portion of the air is thus sucked out of the basements and carried 
into the schoolrooms. On the other hand, if the plenum chamber 
permits a leakage, this of course will detract largely from the effective- 
ness of the fan in ventilating the schoolrooms. 

The heating system (it can not be properly called a ventilating 
system) at the Mission High School is of the old hot-air, furnace- 
gravity type. That is to say, air is heated as it passes over a furnace, 
and is delivered to classrooms (if it can get there) solely by the force of 
gravity. When air is heated it expands and volume for volume 
becomes lighter than colder air. For this reason the heated air is 
pushed upward by the heavier, or colder air. It therefore stands to 
reason that in a climate where the temperature of the outside air is 
rarely as low as the freezing point, and for the most part during the 
ordinary cold weather less than 20° F. below what it should be in the 
classrooms, the movement of the air through the ducts to classrooms 
will be sluggish unless heated far above the temperature needed. 
Hence this system can not be depended on to give anything approxi- 
mating adequate ventilation. 

Furthermore, the rooms can be heated evenly only by careful 
firing and proper damper control. The air is likely to be dry and 
harsh, especially in cold weather. There will never be adequate 
ventilation in crowded classrooms unless windows are opened, and 
this may serve to draw off the heat supply designed for other rooms 
in which the windows are kept closed. But windows must be opened 
when fresh air can be secured in no other way. This system should 
be abandoned and a modern heating system installed. 



180 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

We are of the opinion, taking everything into consideration, that a 
system of low-pressure steam heating with sufficient direct radiation 
in each room, and a frank and complete dependence on windows for 
ventilation, would be the most economical and practicable method 
of meeting the demands of this building. It is an utter impossibility 
with the present plant to command the proper sort of heat, and at the 
same time to insure even a reasonable degree of ventilation. 

ASSEMBLY ROOMS. 

The school board is to be commended for supplying to all the newer 
buildings some form of assembly room. In the grammar schools 
these rooms are almost invariably in the basement; they seem, 
however, to be very little used. Many of them are used for parent 
teachers' associations and for some evening gatherings, but their 
value could be multiplied many times if they were used daily for the 
upper grades. It may be that the location of these rooms in base- 
ments has directly or indirectly operated to prevent their general use. 

Comparatively few of the assembly rooms are sufficiently lighted to 
justify their use as class rooms or study rooms. They should be used 
more frequently for chorus work, for lantern work in connection with 
history, geography, literature, nature study, and for other regular 
school studies in which illustrations could be used to advantage. 
An assembly room can be made the spiritual center of the school; 
but to accomplish this, regular programs, exercises, and illustrated 
lectures must be arranged. These rooms can be used for extension 
classes and evening entertainments for community purposes with 
good effect, and this part of the educational work of the city should 
be more systematically developed. 

Those who investigated the city's schools were disappointed in the 
location, size, and general arrangement of the assembly room in the 
Lowell High School. In a school of this kind, above all, there is need 
for adequate and commodious assembly rooms, not only for regular 
morning exercises, but also to afford opportunity for student organiza- 
tions to work together for the cultivation of those graces and social 
activities which will make lasting impressions, as well as give a certain 
useful training* to those who must soon become leaders in social and 
public affairs. 

Assembly rooms should be carefully planned, well located, and 
attractively constructed in order that they may make such an appeal 
as will demand their regular and intelligent use. 

BASEMENTS OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

In the newer school buildings, the basements are generally free 
from dampness and well lighted. In the older buildings, with central 
heating and ventilating plants, the basements, where any exist, are 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 181 

usually in bad condition. Broken school furniture, kindling, oil 
barrels, and other materials are often found stored in them, and the 
resulting risks of fire and disease constitute a real menace. This was 
strikingly true of the Horace Mann Intermediate School, a wooden 
structure badly overcrowded and surrounded by other inflammable 
buildings. The basements of such buildings should be cleaned out 
and rendered as bare and safe as possible. All useful material not 
needed in the school should be removed to some central warehouse 
for distribution. The useless stuff should be burned. 

In some of the older buildings, such as the Emerson School, the 
Hearst School, and others of this type, classrooms have been fitted up 
in basements that are entirely too dark for use. Portable buildings 
furnish far better classrooms, even though the lighting is imperfect, 
than these basement rooms. Unless basements are well lighted and 
have ample opportunity for sunning, and unless the floors are set on 
cement, they can not be dry and sanitary enough for use as school- 
rooms. 

The prevailing policy seems to be to put the primary children in 
these rooms. These are just the children who ought to have the 
brightest, most attractive, most comfortable and most sanitary 
rooms. In the newer buildings rooms in the basements are fitted up 
for domestic science and manual training work. Some of these rooms 
are fairly good, but most of them are imperfectly lighted and poorly 
ventilated. Fewer difficulties and more advantages follow from 
putting manual training in the basement than from putting domestic 
science there, but even manual training rooms must have ample 
light, and it is difficult to furnish as good light in basements as in 
rooms above ground. Special care should be taken to see that the 
manual training rooms are as free from shavings and other inflam- 
mable material as possible. 

TOILETS. 

The location of toilets in the modern elementary school demands 
the most careful and painstaking consideration. In the newer 
buildings of San Francisco, the toilets are principally in the base- 
ments. This is, in the main, a very satisfactory arrangement, 
provided only that the basements are so lighted and ventilated and 
so readily accessible both to the playgrounds and to the rooms above 
that they can be kept strictly sanitary and acceptable to the children 
and teachers. 

No room in a school building demands more light and sunshine 
and better ventilation than the toilet room, and no part of the school 
building constitutes a more accurate index of the general conduct of 
the schools. Conditions are bad in some of the older buildings, 
where toilets are located in the yards. The Buena Vista and Irving 



182 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Scott Schools, for example, should receive attention at the earliest 
opportunity. 

The following general recommendations are made in regard to 
the toilet systems : 

1. When placed in basements, they should be situated so as to get 
all the sunshine possible. 

2. The} 7 should be ventilated through windows not in any way 
connected with the rest of the building. ; 

3. Both the seats and the urinals should be placed around the 
walls, so as to face toward the sunlight if possible, leaving the central 
part of the room open. The placing of two rows of seats back to 
back across the center of the room to save plumbing is not often 
justifiable, for this arrangement cuts off much light and, possibly, 
sunshine, impedes ventilation, and renders the supervision of the 
toilets very difficult. On the other hand, if the seats and urinals 
are placed about the walls, the center of the room is free, and a 
glance by the person in charge will suffice to see that things are in 
good condition; otherwise, because stalls are hidden one behind 
another, it is exceedingly difficult to keep these rooms sanitary and 
preserve a high standard of- morality and decency. 

4. Almost invariably it was found that the partitions separating 
the stalls are needlessly high, sometimes 3 feet higher than they 
should be. This means, of course, an unnecessary expense, besides 
cutting off light and ventilation. The only excuse for surrounding 
a seat with partitions and doors is privacy, and walls 7 feet high are 
not necessary to insure privacy for a small child. The partitions and 
doors should be as low as possible consistent with their purpose. 

5. It is especially urged that whenever toilets are reported out of 
order, they should be attended to immediately. A great many of 
the seats were found out of order, and the information available was 
that they had been reported frequently but had not been repaired. 
This is inexcusable. If the board of education had direct control of 
repairs on school buildings, as recommended in this report, such 
repairs could be made more promptly. 

6. Old-fashioned trough urinals have been installed in new build- 
ings of certain types, and so far these have been fairly well cared for, 
but it is only a question of time when the acid will gather in these 
troughs, corrode the underlying metal, and cause trouble. Besides, 
it seems to have been thought unnecessary to set these troughs at 
different heights. In many schools, the small boys can not use them 
with any degree of comfort or ease, while they may be too low for 
the largest boys. 

The proper adjustment of sanitary fixtures of this sort to suit the 
different ages of the children will operate to segregate them, an 
excellent thing both for physical and moral reasons. It is earnestly 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 183 

recommended, therefore, that if any more of this type of urinal are 
used, they be set to meet conveniently the demands of the children, 
and that those that are now set should be changed to meet these 
demands. The glass urinals used in other buildings, sometimes set 
against the wall, and more generally in double rows in the center of 
the room, are not proving satisfactory. In the first place, it was 
very rare- to find the fan, installed to create a draft through these, 
running. In one building the janitor did not know the fan was 
there, although he had been in charge of the building four years. 
These fans are not necessary if the toilet rooms arc properly equipped, 
cleaned, flushed, and lighted, constantly ventilated by means of 
windows, and sufficiently isolated from other parts of the building. 

A good illustration of the evils of poor ventilation in toilets can be 
seen in the Mission High School. The boys' toilet in this building- 
was in a very insanitary condition, and so poorly ventilated that the 
odor was annoying. Such conditions as were seen here are not only 
unhygienic, but productive of immorality. 

The urinals in best condition were those furnished with porcelain 
stalls automatically flushed. The only suggestion necessary con- 
cerning these is that special pains should be taken in setting them, 
and that no part should be higher than the surrounding floor. 
It would be a good plan to surround the lower part of the front of 
this type of urinal with a strip of tiling instead of cement. The 
reason for this recommendation is obvious. 

7. In few cities is the number of toilet seats so small as compared 
to the number of children as it is in San Francisco. In the Grant 
School there were only 7 seats for 300 boys and 12 seats for 250 
girls; in the Madison School, 7 seats for 350 boys and 12 for 350 
girls; and others in like proportion. Special inquiry was made 
concerning the need for more, but the principals generally declared 
that they had not felt any urgent need for an increase in number. 

It would be unjustifiable to install a greater number of seats 
than are actually needed, but it is still more unjustifiable to cause 
inconvenience by reason of the need for more. Observation showed 
that there were times when children had to wait, to their disadvantage, 
for lack of a sufficient number of both seats and urinals, more especi- 
ally for lack of seats. It was noted, however, that the teachers so 
managed the classes that the children were dismissed at different 
times, and this of course obviated some o£ the difficulty. The con- 
gestion at recess and noontime was, however, especially marked in 
some schools. 

8. With very few exceptions, the toilet seats are all too high for the 
primary children. This is a matter that no one seems to have 
considered carefully. In the future, when new buildings are to be 
supplied with these necessary fixtures, a due proportion of the seats 



184 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

should be of the proper size and height for small children, and they 
should be set in such a way as to accommodate them easily and 
readily. 

No argument is necessary to show the importance of this recom- 
mendation, but it may be of value to emphasize the point a little 
and say that if adults had to use seats almost as high as their waists, 
they would realize how the little folks are handicapped. It would 
indeed be a striking lesson if some one would equip a school (and 
especially the sanitary arrangements about a school) with appliances 
as much too large and out of proportion for adults as many are now 
for children. Such an illustration would not only surprise those 
who equip school buildings, but would be a reminder to those who 
install plumbing in their homes. 

With rare exception no obscene or indecent writing or drawings 
were found in the boys' toilets; the few instances observed were in 
those old, outer buildings, which of their very nature invited such 
indecencies. 

With very few exceptions the janitors have apparently done their 
best to keep the toilet rooms in good condition, and since they are 
not allowed to do any repair work at all, when things get wrong they 
oftentimes have to wait too long before the repair man puts them in 
order. This phase of the division of labor in the schools of San 
Francisco represents an extreme which at times becomes most 
irritating. Frequently a slight adjustment which any intelligent 
janitor might be able and willing' to make must wait until the one 
whose general business it is to look after such things comes around. 

DRINKING FOUNTAINS. 

The problem of supplying sufficient drinking fountains of the 
proper type, and of locating them in the proper place in sufficient 
numbers and in such a way that the children can use them, has not 
been solved in San Francisco. Most of the drinking fountains are 
placed out of doors. Since the weather is never cold enough to 
freeze the water, this is justifiable ; but the fountains are likely to be 
interfered with by the general public outside of school hours, and it 
is safe to say that fully half of the drinking fountains in the school 
yards were out of order, or at least were not serving the children 
properly, at the time the schools were visited. 

It is a serious error to set all drinking fountains so high that the 
little folk who make up the larger part of the school population can 
not get to them without climbing upon boxes or upon the plumbing 
fixtures. The method of setting these drinking fountains, and the 
type selected, illustrate how little thought is given to actual child 
needs. Little folk need to drink oftener than older children, and 
they are less able to help themselves, and why these fountains should 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 185 

be placed almost out of their reach in so many cases is beyond com- 
prehension. It is earnestly recommended that in the equipment of 
future buildings more attention be given to selecting drinking foun- 
tains which are least easily broken or put out of order and which are 
at the same time sanitary, and that a sufficient number of them be 
set to accommodate in the proper way the smaller children. It 
would be better to make them all low than to make them all high, 
but it is not necessary to do either. 

The use of the ordinary faucet as a drinking fountain is probably 
more to be condemned than the use of the common drinking cup; 
because cups will be washed occasionally, but ordinarily fixtures are 
never washed except by the children themselves with dirty hands. 

The general provision made in most new buildings to filter water 
for drinking purposes is to be commended. So far as it was possible 
to determine, the San Francisco school children have access to whole- 
some water. 

PORTABLE HOUSES. 

San Francisco has had an unusual experience with temporary or 
portable school buildings. Many of these were installed directly 
after the fire, and some of them are still doing service. One of the 
striking things in the investigation was the wholesome condition of 
most of these temporary buildings. The impression of the average 
observer is that the children in such temporary buildings are not as 
well cared for as they would be behind the walls of some expensive 
building; but as a matter of fact, the temperature and the atmos- 
pheric conditions in many of the temporary structures were better 
than in the newer buildings. This was chiefly because the teachers 
made a special effort to ventilate carefully, and to care for the fires, 
these portable buildings being heated by stoves placed in the class- 
rooms. 

One serious blunder was made, however, in planning these build- 
ings. The windows were placed on the left as they should be, but 
instead of being to the rear of the classroom, in most cases they are 
toward the front. This makes the light from the two front windows 
fall almost directly into the eyes of the children as they sit at their 
desks. The windows should all be to the rear on the left, so as to 
leave as large an unglazed space as possible in the wall to the front. 
In many cases these rooms would be better lighted if the front window, 
and sometimes the two front windows, were darkened by shades. 
If these buildings are to be used much longer, this mistake in the 
placement of the windows should be corrected. 

When portable buildings are grouped in a noisy place, or too near 
outbuildings, or in low ground, or in the shadow of other buildings, 
they are, of course, not satisfactory. The conditions at the Fair- 



186 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

mont School are especially bad, and should be corrected at the earliest 
possible moment. 1 

The main buildings, about which these portable buildings are 
grouped, generally occupy the best part of the lot; and hence some of 
the disadvantages of these buildings arise from the fact that they 
are placed too near the street or in some other unsatisfactory loca- 
tion. When these buildings are properly constructed, when the 
classrooms in them have good light and ventilation and are kept 
with as much care as are classrooms in the main buildings, they are 
proving quite satisfactory for school purposes. They have served 
the city well, but should be used now only as temporary quarters to 
accommodate an unexpected increase in school attendance. 

OPEN-AIR SCHOOLS. 

Although the climate of San Francisco renders it an ideal place 
for open-air schools, little in this direction has yet been done. The 
work being done on the portable buildings in connection with the 
Sarah B. Cooper School promises well. The work of the Society for 
the Prevention of Tuberculosis is to be commended for its efforts to 
interest the city in this work. 

Very few places in the country offer such splendid opportunities 
for open-air schools as San Francisco. The expense of clothing 
and equipment for open-air school children in the mild climate of 
the western coast will be much less than in the severer climate of 
the inland and the East. In all the new grammar schools to be 
erected provision should be made for one or more classes in the open 
air. Provision could be made easily for such classes in some of the 
buildings now in use. For example, the roof of the Sarah B. Cooper 
School offers splendid opportunity for open-air classes both for the 
health of the children and for their general welfare. It would cost 
little to make the necessary arrangements. 

We are coming to realize that it is poor policy to wait until 
children contract tuberculosis or become dangerously anemic before 
they are put into open-air classes. When removed from stuffy, 
crowded schoolrooms to open-air schools, growing children show not 
only the effect in good health, but a considerable advantage in mental 
alertness and interest. If it were not for tradition and the unnatural 
demands that people have fastened on themselves for an indoor life, 
San Francisco would no doubt soon teach more than half of her 
children in open-air schools. One of the most astute and intelligent 
American physicians has predicted that the time is approaching 
when all schools will be open-air schools, and that we shall learn for 
all time that fresh air and sjmshine are necessary elements in our 
educational procedure. 



' It is understood that a new building for this school is shortly to be constructed. 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS, AND GROUNDS. 187 

FIRE PROTECTION. 

At the time this part of the survey was conducted there was a 
marked agitation among the people of the city regarding greater 
precaution against fire hazards in the schools. This was doubtless 
partly stimulated by the experience of the great fire some years ago ; 
also by some recent tragic experiences in the East. The board of 
education had gone to a good deal of expense in erecting somewhat 
elaborate fire escapes from the various buildings, and were being 
called on for further work in this direction. There is no more serious 
duty devolving upon boards of education in large cities than that of 
taking every possible precaution against the danger of fire while 
school is in session, as well as after school hours. 

It was noted that some of the recent fire escapes constructed at 
the schools were so steep, and so peculiarly placed, that the possi- 
bility of using them as successfully as the regular stairways for getting 
children out of the buildings, should a fire suddenly develop, would 
be questionable. The excellent fire drills organized and practiced 
everywhere in the city are to be commended, however. These 
drills were tested on numerous occasions, and in every instance the 
teachers were definitely prepared to handle the children in a very 
satisfactory fashion and to empty the school buildings in a remark- 
ably short time without any hurry or rush. If more careful atten- 
tion were given to making the basements of all new buildings entirely 
fireproof from within, especially in and about those rooms where 
the heating plant is located, to making the stairways fireproof, and 
to constructing a sufficient number of stairways with proper exits, 
the danger to the lives of the children when in school buildings 
would be very slight indeed. 

In the long run, therefore, it is safer and better to spend more 
money on fireproof protection rather than more money on fire 
escapes. To be sure, in the old wooden buildings, and in those more 
recently constructed in which there are possibilities of danger from 
within, it is necessary and important to furnish every possible 
opportunity to get the children out of the building and out of the 
way of danger should a fire break out. Some of the fire escapes 
connected with the wooden buildings are so placed that when the 
children are brought out into a restricted playground with no ade- 
quate exits therefrom they might be caught in a trap after getting 
out of the building. This danger is especially noticeable in the 
Sherman School. Some provision should be made in the rear of the 
playground for the children to get away from the building quickly 
in case of fire, for the building itself almost covers the front of the 
lot, and the narrow passages between the building and adjoining 
properties on the east and west might be blocked in case of actual 
fire. Doors in the back fence facing Green Street might be opened 



188 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO . 

at small expense, making it possible for the children to escape much 
more safely and readily. 

Janitors and principals need to be emphatically cautioned concern- 
ing the use of basement rooms for the storage of all sorts of inflamma- 
ble material. Rooms in which kindling and coal are kept should be 
thoroughly fireproof ed and should not be a part of the furnace room. 
As indicated elsewhere in this report, dangerous conditions were 
observed in some of the schools. Kindling was stacked up entirely 
too near the furnace. Barrels of floor oil, waste paper, maps, etc!, 
should be kept as far from the furnace as practicable, and everything 
that would tend to produce spontaneous combustion excluded from 
the building. In the attic of the Mission High School were found 
many buckets partly filled with paints and oils, and overalls saturated 
with oil and paint. Oily mops and the lint from these are especially 
dangerous. 

In practically all the buildings, except a few of the older ones, 
special fire hose is provided in ample amount; but inquiry showed 
that in a number of instances the janitors did not know how to get 
the hose down and use it in case of fire. The janitors in every 
building should be sure that all fire hose is ready for any emergency 
and should know how to handle the hose without hitch or hesitancy. 

A number of the older buildings are still using coal stoves in each 
room for heating purposes. This naturally increases the danger from 
fire, and makes it very difficult for the janitors to care for the building. 
These buildings will doubtless be displaced at the earliest possible 
moment. Such buildings as Hamilton Grammar School, Horace 
Mann Grammar School, the Everett School, the Emerson School, and 
others of this type, while often in a fair state of repair, because they 
were well constructed, still are so badly adapted to modern school 
conditions, and so poorly lighted, and have so large a fire hazard that 
they should not be tolerated any longer than is absolutely necessary. 
Three-story buildings, such as many of these old structures are, should 
not be permitted, especially for elementary grades. 

The matter of fireproofing against the danger of fire from without 
is a matter that the board of education and the commissioner of build- 
ings and grounds should consider. San Francisco thus far has been 
very fortunate with reference to fires in school buildings, aside of 
course from the great disaster of some years since; but this should 
not operate to beget a carelessness in taking every reasonable pre- 
caution against this danger. 

There is far more danger from possible earthquakes to poorly con- 
structed buildings than from fire, for in the former case little time 
is offered to escape. Every school building in the city should be so 
constructed as to be more than reasonably safe from damage by 
earthquake. 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 189 

There are certain buildings which should be thoroughly examined, 
and special precaution should be taken to prevent the outbreak of 
fire. This is notably true of the Mission High School. One small 
fire occurred there recently, and it is ver}^ fortunate indeed that it 
was discovered before it had made any serious progress. There are 
great opportunities, through shafts that are not fireproof and through 
openings to the roof, for a fire once thoroughly started in the base- 
ment to run through the whole building at an alarming rate. Imme- 
diate attention needs to be given to this building to render it safer 
and to prevent the possibility of serious disaster. 

The same may be said of many of the older grammar schools of the 
type already mentioned, but these dangers are so obvious that no 
special recommendation is needed in regard to them. The people of 
San Francisco owe to the children of their city a large outlay for a 
large number of new school buildings thoroughly constructed against 
the danger of earthquake and also made entirely safe from fire. A 
city with the population and wealth of San Francisco, and with its 
comparatively small school population, should set the world a stand- 
ard in the construction of safe and satisfactory school buildings. 

During the course of the survey the investigators examined with 
interest the kalamein doors set in' wired glass partitions separating 
the halls from the stairways in a number of the newer buildings, 
such as the Adams School and the John Swett School. These doors 
were planned as fire-protection devices. Clearly when school is not 
in session these doors might be kept closed to some advantage, but 
in not a single school were these doors found closed during school 
time, and in no instance save one were teachers or principals found 
who could say that they had ever been closed during school hours. 
If these doors are not kept closed they are of no use, and hence repre- 
sent a useless expense. If they were kept closed during school hours 
the children could not get out of the building without stopping to 
open them. Hence, they must be kept open in order that the school 
may escape if fire occurs. The stairs in this building are made 
fireproof from within, and if the children were on the stairways the 
doors could be closed, but the doors would then have no value as 
protection to the children. With doors and partitions stretched 
across the halls, as here indicated, it would be difficult for the children 
to get to the stairways, and a jam in the halls would be much more 
likely than otherwise. On the other hand, where doors of this type 
are used to cut off the basement from the stairways, they have real 
value. 

JANITOR SERVICE. 

In so far as ordinary sweeping, cleaning, and scrubbing is con- 
cerned, it would be difficult to find a more thoroughly cleaned sys- 
tem of school buildings than was observed in San Francisco at the 



190 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM QF SAN FRANCISCO. 

time the schools were visited. But in the matter of control of the 
somewhat delicate and complicated apparatus connected with the 
ventilating and heating plants, as well as with the various devices 
that could be made to render general conditions more acceptable, 
the showing was less satisfactory. 

It was evident everywhere that satisfactory relations existed 
between the principal and janitor service. There was no outward 
sign of insubordination or unwillingness to do all within their power- 
to meet the demands of the school; but the janitor of a modern, 
well-equipped, thoroughly up-to-date school building must of neces- 
sity know a great deal about mechanics and the operation of ma- 
chinery, even though he be not expected to keep these in repair; 
but emergencies will arise in which a janitor who knows what to do 
can be of very great service. Besides, it requires ever more intelli- 
gence and ever a better understanding of the laws of health for a 
janitor to meet the conditions now imposed upon schools. 

Vacuum systems are installed in the new buildings, but these 
seem to be rarely used, many of the janitors declaring that they are 
used but once a year — during vacation period. Others used them 
occasionally to clean the rugs and carpets in the principal's office. 
In a few exceptional cases the vacuum equipment was used regularly 
in the classrooms. 

There are two reasons for this Jack of use of the vacuum systems 
installed. First, with the exception of a very few of the newer build- 
ings, the only openings to which to attach the suction hose are in 
the halls, one opening designed to serve from two to four rooms, 
necessitating a long heavy hose, entirely too heavy for women to 
handle, and in fact too unwieldly for a man to manipulate with 
any degree of satisfaction. Second, by reason of the length, the 
friction in the long hose is so* great as to reduce the suction to such 
an extent that the vacuum is not great enough to gather up the 
sand and dirt from the • floors satisfactorily. 

Many thousands of dollars worth of vacuum-cleaning machinery 
installed in the schools of San Francisco is not used sufficiently 
often to warrant the expense of installation. It is therefore recom- 
mended that vacuum systems be not installed except where it is 
possible to get the janitors to use them freely and easily and to get 
satisfactory results. Two hose attachments in each hall are not 
sufficient. 

Most of the floors of the schoolrooms of San Francisco have been 
treated with oil dressing, and the sweeping is done by broom and 
prepared sawdust. In some of the schools, however, the floors have 
not been treated with oil or wax since they were laid, and they are 
in need of immediate attention. As an illustration of this condi- 
tion may be cited the Junipero Serra, a "special construction" build- 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 191 

ing, which has been occupied a little more than five years. The 
boards in the floor are separating and warping. Here the janitor 
was found sweeping without sawdust, and to protect himself had a 
great thick cloth hung over his nose and mouth. The inspection 
was made during the process of sweeping after school, and every- 
thing was covered with dust. 

Much has been said for and against the use of dustless floor oils. 
In some cities boards of education have forbidden their use, because 
of the requirements of underwriters; in others because of complaints 
from teachers and children. In other cities their use is continued 
and found very helpful. Floors can be almost ruined by indis- 
criminate and unintelligent use of oil preparations, and from such 
carelessness most of the criticisms have arisen. Before floors are 
oiled they should be thoroughly cleaned, and the oil should be put 
on in a very light coating after they are dry, so that it may be com- 
pletely absorbed into the pores of the wood. There can then be very 
little, objection on the part of either the underwriters or teachers and 
children, and the floors can be kept clean much more easily. 

In any city as large as San Francisco there should be established 
janitor schools for the instruction of janitors in regard to their very 
important duties having relation to the health, decency, and general 
welfare of the children. Instruction should be given in these schools 
by superintendents, engineers, experienced janitors, and others who 
have given special attention to school sanitation. 

The work of janitors is not limited to sweeping, building fires, and 
keeping all things in order. They come in direct contact with 
school children during the most impressionable }^ears of their lives, 
and if prepared for their work they can be of very great moral 
service to the school as a whole. They need knowledge of the prin- 
ciples underlying their work. The rule of thumb does not enable one 
to adjust oneself to varying conditions, and therefore breaks down 
when conditions change. • 

There are many things about the school buildings of San Fran- 
cisco of which the janitors are not well informed, and in fact of 
which many of them are wholly ignorant. Apparently no one has 
taken any special pains to instruct them and to follow up their 
work to see that intelligent service is rendered. Still it is not un- 
reasonable to ask that those who undertake to do a definite and a 
serious public service make thoroughgoing preparation before 
doing so. 

A school for janitors, as here suggested, should be adapted to the 
limited time at the disposal of those engaged in it, and should be 
held at several centers rather than at one place. The expense 
would be very small in comparison with the good to be accomplished 
and would be more than saved in the more economic and effective 



192 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

service rendered. A slight improvement in the oiling of floors and 
in dustless sweeping compounds, and the methods of working them, 
would be of very great value to the health of the children and the 
general esthetic side of education. 

HEALTH INSPECTION. 

The health and physical development of children are of the greatest 
importance and must be provided for in the schools. Health in 
spection of school children is becoming common in all progressive 
countries. It does not need to be argued that this phase of school 
work influences directly and indirectly the progress of general edu 
cation. Mental growth and development are so interrelated witr 
physical well being and so dependent on it that teachers can not 
reasonably hope for satisfactory progress by physically defective 
or undernourished children. The best heritage and asset which any 
child can acquire is sound health and a well-nourished, well- devel- 
oped body. 

The schools of San Francisco are not now giving sufficient atten- 
tion to the subject of health. Three physicians and 14 nurses can 
not possibly know the special physical needs of each and all of the 
school children and minister effectively to them. 

Each child when entering school for the first time should have a 
thorough physical examination, so that the teachers may have the 
necessary information to deal with all intelligently. A certain per- 
centage of the children are mentally backward, and these should be 
discovered by mental tests or measurements, and segregated for 
their own good as well as for the benefit of the majority. 

But these initial examinations and measurements are only the 
beginnings. Annually, thereafter, all the children should be reex- 
amined and those who show the need of special attention should be 
examined oftener. The mere examination of school children and 
the tabulation of normalities and abnormalities, however care- 
fully made, will do no good unless plans, programs, and exercises 
are adjusted to suit their needs. This follow-up work devolves on 
teachers and nurses. The teachers have the children under their 
instruction daily and can adjust their work and study their prog- 
ress as no other school officers can. The nurse can visit the home, 
study the outside environment of the child, and in many ways bring 
the home into cooperative relation with the school to the advantage 
of all concerned. The medical inspectors can suggest methods and 
means in special cases, organize and develop clinics, and cooperate 
with the school officers in all matters pertaining to personal hygiene, 
school hygiene, and sanitation. 

All the newer buildings in San Francisco are provided with special 
rooms for the school nurses. These rooms are for the most part 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 193 

sufficiently equipped for all ordinary purposes. The number of 
nurses should be increased, however, so that all may have more time 
to devote to the follow-up work, both in the school and the home. 
It would also be to the general welfare of the school children if all the 
activities of the department of medical inspection were under the 
control of the board of education rather than under the board of 
health. Such a change would coordinate the work of supervision and 
render cooperative work more general and effective, and is recom- 
mended. 

To be sure, any system of medical inspection, whether under the 
board of health or the school authorities, should be in close touch with 
the board of health and should work for the general health of the 
community. Certain rules and regulations made by boards of health 
must apply to schools as well as to any other municipal activity. 
Still, the experience of the past 10 years shows a decided preference 
for the organization here suggested. Whether this change is made 
or not, more health officers should be assigned to this work in the 
schools. It would be good economy to use at once the full time of 
five well-trained physicians, of one specialist in mental hygiene, and 
a sufficient number of dentists to direct in a thorough way the health 
work involved. 

San Francisco has many advantages in climatic conditions, but as a 
great world port she has to meet the dangers of contagion both from 
within and without. The population is strikingly cosmopolitan, and 
the ideals of health and sanitation are accordingly varied and diverse. 
The schools are doing wonderful work in molding the mass of children 
into a more unified and composite intellectual type. The health 
department has the opportunity of setting up standards of cleanliness 
and health that can become one of the city's best safeguards. For 
example, if all the money which is now wasted annually in the city 
for dangerous patent nostrums could be saved through proper health 
education, it would many times overpay all the expenses of health 
supervision. 

Good health has a direct and definite bearing on good citizenship 
and means much for the State as well as for individual happiness and 
prosperity. Health inspection and medical attention in the schools 
are therefore fully justified in every way. A sound mind and a sound 
body are twin elements in the process of character formation and can 
not be divorced without danger to the individual and to the State 
Mental deficiency often grows out of physical deficiency, and often 
the most direct means of improving moral and mental conditions is 
through the relief of bodily ills and the establishment of a sound and 
wholesome physical life. The criminal classes are recruited to a 
surprising degree from the defective classes. 
93815—17 13 



194 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

The present attempt at segregation of mental defectives from 
normal children, and the development of special schools for these 
unfortunates, are mere beginnings. The most expensive citizens in 
general are those who from one cause or another are handicapped 
intellectually, morally, and physically. It would therefore be good 
public economy for the municipality to require the school authorities 
to make a much more careful search among the school children for 
those who are in need of special help and training, and to classify and 
provide for them according to their needs. There are imbeciles and 
weaklings scattered about through the schools who can never do the 
intellectual tasks set them. They will always be children from the 
point of view of mental development. Many such may be saved from 
a life of crime by training designed to fit them to perform in a satis- 
factory way some of the useful occupations of life. 

There are some children now in special schools who properly belong 
in State institutions. These should be removed from the schools both 
for their own sakes and for the safety of society. If such suggestions 
as are here implied are followed out, the police and courts will in the 
near future have less to do than now. 

It is impossible not to note in this connection the miserable accom- 
modations now furnished an " ungraded" school in two temporary 
rooms on Union Street. Here a number of backward children have 
been segregated that they may be given special attention. The 
rooms are badly lighted, the lot is unattractive, and conditions are ill 
adapted for outdoor exercises. There is no provision for gardening 
or nature work, the toilets are in an outside shack near the front and 
in bad condition, and the whole environment is unfavorable. 

Climatic and other conditions make it possible for those who have 
charge of the health work in the school to develop high standards, but 
for this are needed additional help, more time for Health teaching, 
more regular physical examinations of all the children, and better and 
fuller provision for such corrective treatment as those who are unable 
to command private help should have. 

Clinics, both general and special, are needed, and these should be 
arranged for at the earliest possible time. It does no good to find that 
a child has a bad case of adenoids and then let it go on without help. 
If parents will not or can not have a child's teeth treated when a report 
from the school health office shows this to be urgently needed, then 
the schools should provide for it. School dental clinics are found in 
most progressive cities and should be established in San Francisco. 
They can be made self-sustaining at small cost, if this seems necessary. 

Finally, health inspection should include more cooperative work of 
teachers, janitors, principals, and superintendents in regard to school 
hygiene and sanitation. This would be easier if the health inspection 
were under the direction of the board of education as recommended. 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 19& 

Those connected directly with the health inspection and all school 
officers and teachers must more and more interest themselves in health 
and in keeping children fron becoming ill, in prevention rather than, 
cure. 

The services of the nurses in the schools of San Francisco are much 
appreciated by the teachers, and, considering the number of children 
apportioned to each, the nursing work is being well done. The 
nurses are prepared for their work and exhibit a lively and intelligent 
interest in all that has thus far been assigned them to do. 

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

1. The board of education should be given power to anticipate 
needs and purchase school sites of sufficient size and in strategic places 
before actual need drives them into the market. 

2. Especial care should be exercised in selecting sites upon which 
it will be possible to erect buildings with east and west exposure for 
the classrooms. 

3 . Larger playgrounds are seriously needed. It is better, if a choice 
is necessary, to have less expensive buildings and more playground. 
San Francisco is able to supply both good buildings and ample play- 
grounds and should do so. 

4. Some exceedingly poor construction work has been permitted on 
some of the new buildings. The roof of the Lowell High School is 
cited as an illustration. 

5. Good fireproofing and better and safer stairways would lessen 
the need for fire escapes. The fire escapes now in use are not satis- 
factory. 

6. More fan power than that now generally in use is needed to 
insure proper ventilation in classrooms when windows and doors are 
closed. 

7. Unless sufficient fan power is supplied, it would be better to 
heat the buildings by some form of direct radiation and depend on 
windows for ventilation. 

8. Thermostats should be more carefully supervised, and all parts 
of the control apparatus connected with them should be installed in 
places easily accessible. 

9. Plenum chambers and all air passages must be kept scrupulously 
clean. 

10. Vacuum cleaners should be so installed that they can be used 
easily and effectively, or not installed at all. The plan of installation 
now in use is wholly unsatisfactory, and these sanitary helps are thus 
practically useless. 

11. All basements should be cleared of all inflammable materials. 



196 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

12. A central warehouse should be used for storage, and all supplies 
and furniture distributed therefrom as needed, and returned when 
not in use. 

13. Drinking fountains should be set at the proper height for 
children, and kept in order. 

14. Toilets. (See specific recommendations concerning toilets in 
section under this heading.) 

15. Assembly rooms should be placed on first floor above the base- 
ment, and lighted from two sides. The attempt in grammar schools 
to use one large room in the basement for an assembly room, gymna- 
sium, and overflow classroom operates to curtail assemblies and 
eliminates gymnastics. Such rooms are unsatisfactory for class- 
rooms. 

16. Basement rooms should not be used for classrooms unless 
properly lighted, free from ground air and moisture, and lighted from 
east or west. Such basement rooms as those fitted up in the Hearst, 
Emerson, and other schools of this type are insanitary and unfit for 
occupancy by school children. 

17. Domestic-science rooms should be on the top floor rather than 
in basements. 

18. Transoms in school buildings are troublesome and should be 
dispensed with. 

19. There should be slate blackboards in all permanent buildings. 

20. Many blackboards are in bad condition and need immediate 
attention. 

21. Blackboards should be set as follows : First and second grades, 
26 inches above floor; third and fourth grades, 28 inches; fifth and 
sixth grades, 30 inches; seventh and eighth grades, 32 inches; high 
schools, 36 inches. 

22. Blackboards should not be over 42 inches wide, except for the 
teacher and for an occasional special room. 

23. As far as possible all classrooms should receive light from 
either the east or west side and from no other direction. 

24. Art rooms should have the north fight. Laboratories, offices, 
and libraries, may receive light from any direction. 

25. Assembly rooms should be lighted from two sides, but not 
from the front or rear. 

26. The bottoms of windows in classrooms should be at least 4 feet 
above the floor. 

27. Windows, properly placed, should have glass surface equal to 
one-fifth the floor surface. 

28. The windows should be kept clean. 

29. Double-hung sash are the easiest for women to handle. 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GBOUNDS. 197 

30. Hounded or arched tops and other architectural ornamentations 
of windows introduce difficulties in lighting. Rectangular windows 
set as high as possible give the best results. 

31. The medical or health inspection should be under the control 
of the board of education, rather than the board of health. 

32. The full time is needed of 5 physicians, 1 specialist in mental 
hygiene, 20 nurses, and an efficient staff of dentists. 

33. More open-air schools should be established. In all new gram- 
mar schools to be erected provision should be made for open-air 
classes. 

34. More careful segregation of defective children is of immediate 
importance, and a more thoroughgoing attempt to train them 
properly should be instituted. 



Chapter VI. 

THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 



THE POINT OF VIEW. 

In passing judgment upon the efficiency of a modern school system 
we should keep in mind a comprehensive and ideal aim, with direct 
reference to the actual conditions and needs of modern life. 

The school course should be conservative in the best sense, giving 
full recognition to the old standard school subjects, and likewise 
progressive in the best sense, receiving hospitably into the school 
course those new studies which the conditions of modern life demand. 

We realize also that our schools are now in the very process of 
sweeping changes and readjustments .between the older and newer 
forces in education and that a reorganization of our curriculum is 
now demanding our serious attention. 

Many of our larger and smaller cities are making such rapid and 
important changes that it is difficult to determine just what the 
^accepted standards for courses of study are and to find a basis of 
comparison between courses in different cities. Under these cir- 
cumstances a modern school system must be judged not only by its 
past standards but also by the progressive spirit of its teachers, by 
their dynamic energy in pushing forward to solve new problems. 

The following statements will serve to show our point of view in 
judging a school system: 

The purpose of the elementary school is to qualify boys and girls 
to satisfy the demands of right living under modern social and 
industrial conditions. 

The course of study and all the school activities should be so 
selected and organized as to promote the all-round development and 
efficiency of children, both while they are growing up and coming in 
contact with their life surroundings and also for later service. 

The course of study should be strongly organized throughout its 
total length and in its mutual correlations, so as to give a natural and 
vital continuity in the whole process and a steady growth and organi- 
zation of right habits. 

The school should provide for a harmonious development of the 
physical, mental, and moral powers of children with a constant view 
to their life uses. 
198 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 199 

This part of this report will deal with the following topics in the 
order named: Organization of schools; course of study; discipline 
and instruction; supervision; selection, promotion, improvement, 
and tenure of teachers. 

ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS. 

The organization of the elementary schools of San Francisco is in 
some respects peculiar. Day and night schools are provided with 
separate corps of principals and teachers. Besides those schools 
which are provided for special types of children, such as the deaf, the 
feeble-minded, and the incorrigible, the regular day schools are of 
five types: The primary school, including children of the first three 
grades usually, but sometimes also of the IV and V grades; the 
grammar school, provided for children from the V to VIII grades 
and sometimes including also the IV grade; the "all grades" school; 
the cosmopolitan school, which provides in addition to the regular 
course of study instruction in one or more modern foreign languages; 
and the intermediate school which, with the exception of the Hamilton 
Intermediate, which includes the B grade, enrolls children of the VI, 
VII, and VIII grades only and furnishes instruction in manual train- 
ing, domestic science, shorthand and typewriting, bookkeeping, and 
one or more foreign languages. Schools of these various types are 
scattered more or less promiscuously throughout the city. Four or 
five schools are sometimes found within a few blocks of each other. 
The city is not districted for elementary education, and a child living 
in any part of the city is in general recognized as having the right to 
attend school in any other part to which his parents choose to send 
him. This, coupled with the fact that principals' salaries are deter- 
mined by the number of children of primary and grammar grades 
enrolled in their schools, furnishes an interesting but obviously 
undesirable situation. It opens the way, for example, to possible 
rivalry and bad feeling among the schools in bidding for the attend- 
ance of children. It permits and encourages unnecessary shifting 
of pupils from school to school and allows a considerable number to 
be lost sight of altogether. The actual amount of such shifting 
varies in different parts of the city, being considerably greater in 
some districts than in others. In the John Swett School, for exam- 
ple, the number of pupils at the beginning of the school year was 838, 
the number of entrants from July 26 to February 2 was 589, the trans- 
fers to other schools during the same period was 242, and the number 
of children who left without notice was 342. This is perhaps an 
extreme case, but it shows a failure to keep in touch in any definite 
way with the children of the city. 

When these types of schools are compared on a basis of their per 
capita cost, some interesting questions arise which ought to be 



200 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



answered by the school authorities of the city. The following table 
gives the number of pupils enrolled, the number per teacher, the 
number of teachers, the average salaries of the teachers, and the 
cost per pupil of instruction in 33 schools chosen at random and. 
arranged in five groups according to the number of pupils enrolled. 

Table 112. — Some facts concerning elementary schools in San Francisco. 



Schools. 



Total 


Pupils 




Average 


number 


per 


Teachers. 


salary of 


of pupils. 


teacher. 




teachers. 


704 


44 


16 


$1,221 


856 


42 


20 


1,084 


713 


43 


16 


1,114 


803 


47 


17 


1,140 


718 


42 


17 


1,168 


1,109 


46 


24 


1,106 


708 


44 


16 


1,035 


873 


46 


19 


1,083 


813 


48 


17 


1,185 


869 


35 


25 


1,140 


775 


46 


17 


1,154 


808 


50 


16 


1,102 


879 


46 


19 


985 


854 


47 


18 


1,198 


510 


42 


12 


1,032 


530 


29 


18 


1,191 


639 


34 


19 


1,204 


558 


51 


11 


1,108 


618 


38 


16 


1,210 


518 


43 


12 


1,053 


622 


44 


14 


1,183 


522 


43 


12 


1,157 


653 


37 


18 


1,145 


435 


44 


10 


1,150 


407 


41 


10 


1,018 


489 


44 


11 


1,189 


202 


34 


6 


1,202 


188 


38 


5 


1,182 


78 


39 


2 


1,242 


86 


43 


.2 


1,320 


17 


17 


1 


1,320 


77 


39 


2 


1,272 


44 


22 


2 


1,080 


18 


18 


1 


1,320 



Per pupil 
cost of in- 
struction. 



GROUP 1. SCHOOLS HAVING 700 OB MORE PUPILS, 

Adams (cosmopolitan) 

Agassiz (primary) 

Bay View (all grades) 

Bernal (all grades) 

Bryant (cosmopolitan) 

Fair Mount (all grades) 

Franklin (all grades) 

Garfield (primary) 

Grattan (all grades) 

Horace Mann (intermediate) 

Jean Parker (all grades) 

McKinley (all grades) 

Portola (all grades) 

Everett (all grades) 

GROUP 2. SCHOOLS HAVING FROM 500 TO 700 
PUPILS. 

Cleveland (primary) , 

Crocker (intermediate) 

Hamilton (intermediate) 

Oriental (all grades) 

Pacific Heights (all grades) 

Grant (all grades) 

Mission (grammar) 

Yerba Buena (all grades) 

Hancock (grammar) 

GROUP 3. SCHOOLS HAVING BETWEEN 300 AND 
500 PUPILS. 

Burnett (primary) 

Daniel Webster (primary) 

Denman (grammar) 

GROUP 4. SCHOOLS HAVING BETWEEN 100 AND 
300 PUPILS. 

Buena Vista (primary) 

Columbus (primary) 

GROUP 5. SCHOOLS HAVING LESS THAN 100 
PUPILS. 

Andrew Jackson (primary) 

Ethan Allen (parental) 

Paul Revere (all grades) 

Rincon (primary) : 

Parkside (primary) 

Hunter's Point (all grades) 



$30.93 
27.85 
28.27 
27.04 
30.66 
25.40 
25.93 
26.04 
27. 20 
35.63 
28.33 
24.60 
22.62 
28.15 



27.61 
44.85 
39.47 
25.07 
35.30 
27.87 
30.09 
30.05 
34.92 



26.43 
28.85 
31.17 



35. 7& 
38.49 



31.84 

50.2a 

77.65 
33.04 
49.09 
73.33- 



The average cost per pupil for instruction in all schools having 
more than 700 pupils each is $27.76. The average cost per pupil of 
"all grades" schools having 700 or more pupils each is $26.39. The 
average cost per pupil of cosmopolitan schools of over 700 pupils is 
$30.79 and the per pupil cost of the one intermediate school having 
more than 700 pupils is $35.63. Are the cosmopolitan schools of this 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. * 201 

size worth 17 per cent more per pupil and the intermediate school 
35 per cent more per pupil than the "all grades" schools of the same 
number of pupils ? 

The average cost per pupil of schools having 500 to 700 pupils is 
$32.80. Are schools of this size worth on the average 18 per cent 
more per pupil than schools of 700 or more pupils? The average 
cost per pupil in "all grades" schools having between 500 and 700 
pupils is $29.57, or 12 per cent more than the same type of schools 
having 700 or more pupils. The average cost per pupil of the inter- 
mediate schools in this group is 18 per cent more than for the same 
type of school in the other group and nearly 43 per cent more than 
the "all grades" schools of the same group. They also cost nearly 
30 per cent per pupil more than the grammar schools of the same 
group. 

Why should the Pacific Heights School having 618 pupils and a 
school of all grades cost 41 per cent more per pupil than the Oriental, 
having 558 pupils and being also an "all grades" school? Why 
should it cost 27 per cent more per pupil than the Grant, also an "all 
grades" school having 518 pupils? Is the Crocker Intermediate 
School (530 pupils) worth 49 per cent more per pupil for instruction 
than the Mission Grammar School (622 pupils) ? It costs so much 
more. Is the Hancock Grammar School (653 pupils) worth 16 per 
cent more per pupil for instruction that the Mission Grammar 
School? It costs 16 per cent more. The average per pupil cost of 
instruction in iive schools having less than 100 pupils each, not in- 
cluding in this list the Ethan Allen Parental School or the ungraded 
primary for mentally defective children, is $52.95, and in two of these 
schools enrolling less than 20 pupils each and taught by men the 
average per pupil cost is $75.49. Just why these two schools are 
maintained as separate schools at such great cost it would be hard 
to say. 

Obviously great waste would be eliminated (1) by a thorough- 
going study of the actual results secured in the various types of 
elementary schools now in operation, to ascertain which type is the 
most efficient and economical, and (2) by the ultimate reorganization 
of these schools in accordance with the results of this study. This 
is a thing not to be done by outside surveyors, but by the school 
authorities themselves. 

The general movement in city schools toward the separation of 
children into homogeneous groups for the purpose of improving 
instruction has not gone very far in San Francisco. A small but 
good beginning has been made, however, especially in the instruc- 
tion provided for deaf and feeble-minded children. In the case of 
the ungraded primary school for feeble-minded children located on 



202 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

Telegraph Hill, the building and environment are exceedingly bad. 
It is indeed hard to realize that a wealthy modern city like San 
Francisco would permit the use of such «a building for any school 
purpose whatever. We found there 24 feeble-minded children in 
care of an intelligent woman conscious of her problem, deeply inter- 
ested in these unfortunate children, devoted to her work and doing 
it well. She had just been given an assistant who also appeared to 
be well trained for this kind of work and generally interested in it. 
There is also a room for feeble-minded children at the Buena Vista 
School, so that altogether 37 feeble-minded children are provided for. 
How exceedingly inadequate this provision is appears when one con- 
siders that by the most conservative estimate there must be at least 
250 feeble-minded children in the city who, if they are in school at 
all, are enrolled in schools provided for normal children. There is 
great need of a well-equipped psychoeducational clinic in charge of 
an expert to discover these children, place them in schools suited to 
their needs, and provide for them the right kind of instruction. An 
unfortunate backward step was taken when the ungraded classes 
formerly provided in some of the schools were abandoned. There 
is great need of an ungraded room in every large school, or, better 
still, of ungraded centers of two or three rooms conveniently located 
so as to be easily accessible to the children who are to be sent to 
them. This latter plan permits of more handwork and better group- 
ing of the children for instruction. 

To these centers three types of children should be sent : (1 ) Mentally 
backward children who are not sufficiently backward to be classed 
as feeble-minded; (2) borderline cases, or children concerning whose 
proper placement the clinicist is for the time being uncertain; and 
(3) restoration cases, or children who are mentally normal but peda- 
gogically backward in some of the regular school subjects and who 
need to be quickly brought up in these subjects and returned to the 
regular schools for normal children. 

Three rooms in the Golden Gate School were found devoted to the 
education of deaf children. The work observed in thes*e rooms was 
excellent from every standpoint, but here again the number of 
children provided for must be but a small fraction of the deaf children 
of the city, and no provision is made for stutterers, stammerers, and 
those whose speech is otherwise seriously defective. 

TIME ALLOTMENT. 

The present time allotment gives to the various subjects the follow- 
ing percentages of the total time of the elementary course of study 
(Grades I to VIII inclusive) : 






THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 203 

Time allotment. 

Per cent. 

Calisthenics 4. 1 

Art 5.4 

Music 5. 5 

Domestic science or manual training 1.7 

Nature study 3. 2 

Physiology and hygiene 1.4 

Penmanship 3.9 

Reading and literature 30. 3 

Language and composition 8.8 

Spelling 5.4 

History and civics 6. 

Geography 8. 1 

Arithmetic 16. 

A glance at this distribution shows that the group of subjects 
including reading, literature, language, composition, and spelling con- 
sume nearly one-half the total time devoted to elementary education. 
To reading and literature alone nearly one-third of the time is given. 
Comparison with the average distribution of time in New York, 
Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and St. Louis shows 
that San Francisco gives nearly 15 per cent more time to reading and 
language work, including spelling, about 14 per cent more to arith- 
metic, and nearly 33 per cent more to geography, history, and civics 
combined than the average of the other cities named. Supplementary 
material of all kinds — books, maps, pictures, lantern slides, stereo- 
graphs, museum collections, etc. — for the most effective teaching of 
reading and language, history, civics, and geography is not too 
abundant in any of these cities, yet in some of them the average school 
is supplied with 10 times as much supplementary material as was 
found in some of the best-equipped schools in San Francisco. When 
one considers the almost complete absence of such material in some 
of the schools visited, it is evident that much time must inevitably be 
wasted and even worse than wasted when we take account not only 
of the meager content of knowledge, the monotonous repetition and 
drill, but also of the unfortunate attitude of mind and the undesirable 
habits of thinking, reading, and study that must result. 

THE COURSE OF STUDY. 

Sources of information. — The latest complete published course of 
study for San Francisco schools is that of 1911, and on account of 
certain changes that have been made it is partly out of date. We 
found that copies of this course were scarce and difficult to obtain. 
On account of a shortage of funds for printing, the teachers have not 
been supplied with a fully up-to-date course which is authoritative 
in its directions to principals and teachers. A well-defined course 
of study in the hands of every teacher, giving general directions 



204 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

without over-exacting details, is a fundamental requirement of a 
good school system. The outline of a supplementary course was 
published in 1915, which makes a few changes and gives more precision 
to the course by outlining the year's programs according to the 
adopted textbooks. 

These two reports on the course of study for 1911 and 1915 are 
kept in mind in the following survey of the course of study. The 
outlines and suggestions for other special subjects are issued sepa- 
rately. 

General character. — This course of study was laid out with much 
wisdom and acumen with reference to the older standard subjects. 
Many of the general proposals are well conceived, but the work ob- 
served in the schools falls short of their well-phrased theoretical 
statements. 

The 1911 course, combined with the supplement, suggests a mini- 
mum outline, stripped of nonessentials and capable of being enlarged 
and enriched by suitable supplementary material. The suggested 
eliminations are appropriate, such, for example, as a reduction of 
technical grammar, simplification in the interest of a more concrete 
and practical arithmetic, more descriptive and less memoriter geog- 
raphy, choice readings in history and literature, and an effort at sim- 
plifying phonetic elements in primary reading. 

The continuity of thought work and drill exercises running through 
the studies of the eight grades is emphasized. Each teacher is called 
upon to connect up closely with the studies of previous grades and 
to cooperate with other teachers in giving unity and strength to the 
whole process of education. All depends upon the thoroughness 
with which such ideas are carried out in the various school exercises. 

The general introduction to the course of study lays special stress 
upon knowledge, and, in particular, upon "recallable" and " recog- 
nizable" knowledge. To secure this knowledge " cumulative re- 
views" are required. These are well-established forms of repetition 
and drill. 

These and other statements in the course of study betray a marked 
preference for definitely memorized facts and summaries as expressing 
the final result of training in various studies. This emphasis upon 
formal drills and reviews shows an evident neglect of the higher spirit 
of training and culture implied in such familiar expressions as self- 
activity and independence in thinking, initiative, mental and motor 
activity in working out problems, practical adjustment to community 
life, and appreciation of literature and art. Training for efficiency 
and for service under life conditions is a much higher conception of 
the purpose of education than mere knowledge of more or less dis- 
connected facts. 



THE ELEMENTABY SCHOOLS. 205 

The main general criticism to be offered on the curriculum of the 
San Francisco schools, as shown not only in the printed course but 
also in the classroom teaching, is the fragmentary and disconnected 
character of the knowledge materials. The knowledge gathered in 
the course consists of a collection of more or less important facts 
which are not well organized into continuous thought movements. 
In other words, there is a lack of developing continuity of thought, 
of rational organization of knowledge materials. 

Even before teaching begins, in the general framing up of the 
course of study, we should have a definite provision for strong organ- 
izing lines of thought, continuous through the grades. The connec- 
tions from topic to topic and the correlations should be organic and 
vital. 

In the absence of such connectedness of thought, such rational 
organization, drills, and so-called " cumulative reviews" are resorted 
to to make good the deficiency. But mere drills and reviews, while 
they may fix the facts in memory, do not supply thought connections, 
and the whole tendency of the class work is to drop down to the level 
of routine, of formal drills, with a minimum of sound, vital thinking. 

The big problem, then, is how to bring into the original structure 
of the course of study such a progressive thought development, 
such a steady organization of facts around thought centers that 
teachers in the classroom may have, to start with, a good basis of 
organization, broad avenues along which to travel in this journey 
through the course. Then the teachers in the different successive 
grades can get together, compare notes, and cooperate in working 
out this close connection of thought. Our present course of study is, 
to a large extent, miscellaneous and multiplex in its knowledge 
materials. We have a large collection of more or less incongruous 
facts and data. The whole thing needs to be simplified and organ- 
ized. When this has been once well done, teachers in the grades will 
have a plainer road to travel and may learn to guide children into a 
stronger thinking and organizing process. 

To secure a better basis for a simplification and closer organiza- 
tion of studies, the following proposal is offered: 

Sift out and select from the present course a few big, important 
topics to take the place of a multitude of little topics and of mere 
facts. Lift into prominence a few big teaching units as centers of 
organization. As a natural consequence, a large number of little 
topics will drop out and disappear, or they will reappear in subordina- 
tion to these centers. This will give opportunity for a fuller, richer 
study of a few important units and will furnish time to reflect and 
think out the relations between the facts, to see also the connections 
from topic to topic, and the correlations with other studies. Two 



206 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

significant improvements are involved, first a much richer concrete 
description or treatment within the big topic and second a grouping 
of all the facts with definite reference to a problem or controlling idea* 

An example of this steady continuity of thought running through 
many lessons and connecting closely from grade to grade through 
the course is offered in the treatment, a little further on, of San 
Francisco and the west-coast cities. 

As a prelude to this topic we offer the list of names frequently 
presented in the geographies as important facts, with but little 
thought of their being tied together by strong thought relations. 

The important cities of the west coast of the United States are 
San Francisco, on the Bay of San Francisco; Oakland, Berkeley, and 
Alameda, on the east shore. Farther south on the coast, or near it, 
are Monterey, Los Angeles, and San Diego. To the north is Eureka, 
on Humboldt Bay. On the Columbia is Portland, and along the 
coast of Puget Sound are Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, and Bellingham. 
In a lt cumulative review" the list of names in the above order would 
be repeated and drilled in. 

The following is offered as a better treatment of the same topic: 
San Francisco has long been recognized as the chief gateway of the 
United States toward the Pacific and the trade of the Pacific. A 
few years before the completion of the Panama Canal the people of 
San Francisco began to look for a large increase of trade with the 
opening of the canal. Why ? How were they to meet this situation 
and take advantage of it? They at once decided to build a lot of 
new docks on both sides of the ferry station. At an expense of 
several million dollars they greatly increased their docking facilities. 
New fines of steamers from the Atlantic (from Europe and the eastern 
coast) would require ample dockage. What steamship lines with 
Pacific countries were already using San Francisco docks? Across 
the bay from San Francisco, Oakland, although it had a shallow 
swampy shore, began to spend large sums in dredging out a deep 
water frontage and with the aid of the United States Government 
soon had a big harbor. Because of its advantage on the east shore 
Oakland begins to rival or at least hope for rivalry with San Fran- 
cisco in Pacific trade and shipping. 

San Francisco, Oakland, and other towns on the bay have very 
great natural advantages. But in order to really secure these advan- 
tages they have had to spend vast sums in man-made improvements — 
dredging, wharves, dry docks, warehouses, lighthouses, etc. 

Other cities along the Pacific coast have been seeking and working 
eagerly for this trade with all the world; Los Angeles, for example, 
found it possible to build up a good harbor 35 miles south of the 
city on the coast. The Government built a huge breakwater extend- 
ing 2 miles into the sea, and there, under this protection, Los Angeles 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 207 

has developed a harbor that within a few years has built extensive 
docks and is already doing a vast business in ocean tonnage. 

San Diego, 100 miles farther south, has naturally a deep and 
capacious harbor, which has been greatly improved and is now the 
terminus of one of the great continental railroads, and is beginning 
a world business. 

North of San Francisco 150 miles Humboldt Bay has dredged 
out its entrance channel to the sea, protected by jetties, and is 
developing a fine harbor 22 miles long, and already is shipping 
$12,000,000 worth of lumber yearly. 

In Washington and Oregon the coastal cities are quite as energetic 
in planning and spending millions on river and harbor improvements 
so as to share in this coming trade with the world. Portland now 
has a good outlet over the dangerous bar at the mouth of the Colum- 
bia, costing our Government millions for jetties. Portland has great 
docks, and the canal at The Dalles, connecting the lower and upper 
Columbia,, has recently opened up what is known as the " inland 
empire." 

Seattle, on Puget Sound, has been building docks and growing a 
great harbor. It has some peculiar advantages for Pacific trade 
that rank it with San Francisco. In fact Seattle and Los Angeles 
are very pronounced and successful rivals of San Francisco for inland 
and world commerce. 

This suggests that it will be wise to compare San Francisco with 
these other cities in respect to great railroads reaching into the 
hinterland and eastward across the mountains to St. Paul, Kansas 
City, St. Louis, Chicago, Memphis, and New Orleans. 

If we only let the thought grow, this topic develops in a marvelous 
way. It brings together and organizes around a central developing 
idea a large amount and variety of important knowledge. 

San Francisco and the western coast cities have been working out 
a great problem, under given geographical conditions, and it is 
interesting and thought-provoking to the children to study these 
conditions and think out these problems, the difficulties to be met, 
the relative advantages of the different cities and the part that man 
with his wealth and ingenuity plays in determining important results. 

We have suggested thus far the outline which is the basis of a 
much richer and fuller treatment than can be given here. It is 
observable that all the facts hang together around one center or 
idea, and this a growing, expanding idea. This is merely one 
example, suggestive of a center from which knowledge grows, or 
around which many facts group and organize themselves. A variety 
of similar examples of big topics can be given in history, science, 
geography, civics, literature, and industrial arts. The advantage of 
dealing with such organizing centers, rather than with miscellaneous 



208 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

collections or catalogs of facts is apparent. This plan if carried out 
would enormously simplify and enrich the course of study. These 
growing, expanding ideas worked out as problems illuminate broad 
fields of knowledge. 

But thus far we have told only half our story about the cities. 
The idea involved in the foregoing series of lessons on San Francisco 
has a much broader scope than we have thus far suggested. If we 
allow ourselves to think a little further, we shall notice that New 
York has had a long and interesting history of harbor improvements, 
the deep dredging out of the ocean entrance to the Narrows (2,000 
feet wide, 40 feet deep) , the dynamiting of Hell Gate and clearing of 
the passage into the sound, the building of extensive docks on the 
Hudson, on the East Kiver, and at Brooklyn, Staten Island, etc., for 
various purposes, the navy yard, the lighthouses, the fortifications. 
A comparison of the extent of natural and artificial advantage of 
San Francisco and New York would be instructive. At present 
New York is far ahead of San Francisco. What is the future likely 
to bring ? 

Boston, likewise, has an interesting historic harbor, not so deep as 
New York but adequate for most ocean vessels. How do its shipping 
and docks compare with San Francisco? The improvements at 
Boston have been extensive and growing. 

Philadelphia, on the Delaware, has also a valuable ocean trade. 
The river has been deepened and needs deeper dredging for still 
larger ocean shipping. 

Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, and Savannah have had large 
improvements, jetties, etc., added to their interesting natural ad- 
vantages. What are they? 

New Orleans with its jetties at the delta, and Galveston with its 
sea wall, and Port Arthur are well worth studying and comparing 
with San Francisco. Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, and other cities 
on the lakes have created for themselves great and extensive har- 
bors for lake shipping on a grand scale, and are planning greater 
harbors. 1 

In our progress through the grades a few of these large cities, such 
as San Francisco, Chicago, New York, New Orleans, will be treated 
as complete teaching units (big units). With a treatment of each 
later city comes the opportunity for a thoughtful comparison with 
each of those previously studied. 

By means of these comparisons we get a complete and interesting 
review and a strong organization of the whole developing body of 
knowledge. These are not formal, static, memoriter reviews, but 
a thoughtful, discriminating survey, a weighing out of relative values, 

1 At Cleveland the harbor builders are just now recommending an expenditure of $7,000,000 for deepening 
and straightening a part of the river. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 209 

a discovery of interesting contrasts and similarities, a genuine under- 
standing of important cities and traffic routes in their present set- 
ting, in their past growth, and future possibilities. 

Our organizing idea has thus grown to national proportions, and yet 
this is only the beginning of its growth. 

The geographies usually give these coastal and lake cities in several 
lists, unrelated to one another, and stripped largely of distinctive 
and significant features. 

For example, the Atlantic coastal cities are named in two or three 
separate groups, as (1) Boston, Portland, Providence, and Fall 
River; (2) New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore; (3) with the 
treatment of South Atlantic States, Norfolk, Wilmington, Charles- 
ton; (4) Savannah and Jacksonville are named as important sea- 
ports, and still later (5) the Gulf cities, Pensacola, Mobile, New 
Orleans, and Galveston. The large lake cities form a group by 
themselves and are not related to the others. 

In a later grade, where we come to a study of a few big central 
European cities, the ideas involved in our study thus far of American 
cities will spring into a new illumination. Liverpool has built up 
vast harbor improvements, in spite of a tidal shift of 32 feet each 
12 hours. Hundreds of acres of artificial harbors have been dredged 
out deep enough for ocean vessels. 

Manchester spent $85,000,000 on her ship canal to bring ocean 
vessels inland 34 miles to the great cotton market. 

Glasgow spent $100,000,000 during the lapse of a century in deep- 
ening the little River Clyde and much more in building up later along 
this artificial stream the greatest shipbuilding center the world 
has seen. 

Havre, Antwerp, Hamburg, Marseille, and Naples present new 
problems on the same developing line of thought, mainly vast har- 
bor improvements . 

Paris, Berlin, and Vienna are all inland cities, not ocean ports. 
How comes it that they have grown into such world importance 
without close contact with the sea? Notice the contrast! In our 
own country we have few great cities not located on tidewater or 
on the Great Lakes. Why? 

In Asia, Africa, and South America we find important harbor 
cities. Calcutta, Canton, Melbourne, Alexandria, Rio Janeiro, which 
we shall continue to interpret and measure upon the standards de- 
veloped in all our previous studies. • 

What is the outcome? 

An intelligent, growing interest in the present problems and future 
growth of our own coastal cities and in close comparison with foreign 
ports. All the later studies reflect back a new light upon the prob- 

93815—17 14 



210 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

lems of our American seaports. In other words, we have a well- 
organized, naturally developing line of thought running like a broad 
highway through the course of study and projecting itself clearly 
into the city problems of the future. It is a thought movement 
that begins in life projects and ends in life situations. 

In the growth of such a continuous line of thought based on a 
succession of big units of study, arranged like stepping stones through 
the grades, we find a second kind of organization which deals with 
the cross connections or correlations between the studies. 

A big topic freely elaborated keeps the teacher and children passing 
across the boundaries into other subjects. A big city finds it neces- 
sary to deal not only with important phases of geography, physio- 
graphic, commercial, and industrial, but it encroaches constantly on 
history, because it deals broadly with the growth and importance of 
harbor improvements in the past and looks well into the future. It 
would not be out of place to call the whole topic a historical topic, 
since it reviews the causes of the growth and improvement of cities 
in Europe and America for a century and more. The development 
of railroads and ship lines in recent times with relation to ports 
comes clearly into view. The Panama Canal project, upon which 
the San Francisco topic is partly based, is itself a great historical 
evolution. 

Modern applied science plays widely into these big projects from 
an engineering point of view. The excavation and construction of 
great harbors, the machinery for handling goods on the docks, the 
applications of electricity, steam power, and hydraulics to harbor 
problems are many-sided. The mingling of native and foreign ideas 
in big seaports and their relations to foreign lands are wide reaching. 
The exchange of products and merchandise with foreign lands brings 
the children in contact with a great variety of the earth's fruits, 
forests, metals, and other products. Big civic ideas and interests 
find direct expression in these costly improvements; and government, 
in its powers of taxation, expenditure, etc., is fully tested. 

Mathematics is in constant use in measuring relative values in 
cities, harbors, imports and exports, expenditures for improvements, 
etc. It furnishes the best use of statistical data. Supplementary 
reference books of history, geography, and science are fully used. 
Language lessons could not be based on better thought materials. 

But underneath all this is the constant need for utilizing daily in 
class work all the, local experience and knowledge concerning their 
own city, its harbor, etc., and environment that the children have 
gathered at home and in the school. The daily, perpetual falling 
back upon previous knowledge and . incorporating it into the new 
topics is the strongest form of correlation and of organization. To 
reach back in every lesson to the home experiences and neighbor- 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 211 

hood knowledge of boys and girls, and even to take excursions into 
this neighborhood to freshen and clear up these topics, gives a still 
more definite and vital growth in knowledge. To this end undoubt- 
edly the teacher herself should make a purposeful study of all these 
home things and acquire as definite information as possible of the 
previous topics studied in earlier grades. 

In conclusion it may be said that the purpose of good teaching, on 
the knowledge side, is to accumulate and organize information along 
the main highways of study, so that this knowledge will best function 
in a quick and clear interpretation of the many on-coming problems. 
Such vital organization would grow into a system of knowledge not 
easily forgetable, vital, and organic. A big topic like this, or series 
of closely related big topics, cuts a big swath through the whole 
elementary course of study and gives the child a practically valuable 
and usable kind of knowledge in the end. It is the basis of inter- 
pretation now and in the future as he looks out upon the world. It 
gives him positive help in the duties of a citizen. 

What may be called the distinctly modern phases of education are 
relatively neglected in the course, such as the industrial and house- 
hold arts, music and drawing, nature study and applied science, 
pre vocational studies, and special provision for defective classes. 
Other large cities, like Indianapolis, Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York, 
and Boston, have taken up these modern problems in a serious and 
thoroughgoing fashion that makes San Francisco's efforts seem 
trivial. Cleveland, Chicago, and other cities have elaborate reports 
outlining these modern studies and discussing principles and 
methods. 

To comprehend the real meaning and value of a course of study we 
must keep in mind its relation to several other things upon which 
the course is directly dependent: First, the textbooks used, which 
often mainly determine the course; second, the supplementary books 
and reference libraries, upon which the real execution of the course 
largely depends; third, the experience, equipment, and prevailing 
methods of the teachers; fourth, the adjustment to the local needs 
and peculiarities of the community. Unless the course of study is 
brought into close relation to these things, it will amount to very 
little. 

Arithmetic. — The introduction to arithmetic in the course of study 
is a clearly defined statement of correct principles governing subject 
matter and method in teaching arithmetic. In the actual teaching 
observed in the schools, the course in arithmetic is as well carried 
out as is the course in any of the studies. The work in primary 
grades is systematic, and the devices for illustrating and concreting 
the number exercises are good. The card drills in the hands of 
the children are also, as a rule, well carried out. The board work 



212 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN PEANCISCO. 

and seat work of the children in intermediate grades is usually well- 
planned and put on in good form. The standard units of measure- 
ment, such as quart, foot, pound, etc., could be used more extensively 
as a means of concreting number concepts. Incidental number 
work in primary grades, as related to other studies and school 
activities and to games, does not seem to find a place in this course. 

The course of study covers the usual topics and follows a given 
textbook adopted by the State. Great emphasis is laid, in the gram- 
mar grades, upon a careful formal review at the beginning of each 
half year. Not much stress is put upon the thoughtful, independent 
work of solving problems, and of applying arithmetical processes to 
subjects which come up in other studies. 

The general plan outlined in this course would secure a good 
mastery of the facts and processes of arithmetic, but would not 
develop strong thought power in dealing with new problems and new 
situations. Possibly the metric system occupies relatively too 
important a place in grammar grades. As compared with other 
cities in the United States this course in arithmetic may be called 
a standard course. 

Geography. — The course in geography is somewhat elaborately 
planned and has excellent features. The home geography for early 
grades is properly emphasized, and following that, the plan provides 
for the study of the physical features, climate, and products of the 
State of California. 

In very few of the schools did we find this plan of home geography 
fully worked out. In certain of the schools the State geography of 
California was well developed and illustrated with sand maps, 
product maps, and descriptive materials, pictures, etc. The plan 
of using product maps in the upper grades, showing on outline maps 
the distribution of products by different colored crayons, an excellent 
plan, we found in use in only a few schools, although specifically 
called for by the course of study. 

The plan presented in this course offers a combination of textbook 
studies with assignments from supplementary readers. These lessons 
are further strengthened by map studies and by the so-called " cumu- 
lative reviews." 

The cumulative reviews are strongly emphasized in the course of 
study. They occupy several weeks at the beginning of each term 
and are designed to repeat and reiterate the essential facts till they 
are thoroughly fixed in mind. In practice, such reviews often degen- 
erate into routine drills, which are lifeless. In fact, the outline of 
leading facts given in the course of study for the upper grades recom- 
mends such almost pure memory drills. Example: Lists of moun- 
tains in Asia for cumulative review — Caucasus, Himalaya, Kinghan, 
Hindu Kush, Altai, Sinai, Ararat, Everest. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 213 

In the later grades the course outlined gives an undue emphasis to 
the bare names and locations of places in geography. This in con- 
nection with the cumulative reviews overemphasizes the formal side 
of the study. The big important topics in geography should serve 
more as centers of organization, and the facts should be grouped 
around these centers. The improved course of study in other cities 
calls for a more careful selection and fuller treatment of large topics 
and a curtailment of mere facts and location of places. 

The close relation between history and geography is scarcely 
referred to, another illustration of the isolation of studies which should 
be kept in close and constant relation. The course of study should 
do more than merely mention correlation as a principle. It should 
group the topics in any grade so as to contribute directly to a closer 
connection. When properly provided for in the course, the intercon- 
nections between the different studies are very numerous and profit- 
able and teach the children how to connect and organize their thoughts 
in a more rational manner. 

Reading and literature. — In the course of study the general intro- 
duction to "reading and literature" is a first-class statement of the 
purpose and plan of teaching these subjects above the primary 
grades. We hardly see how this introductory statement could be 
improved upon in the space given to it. We may add also that we 
saw in some of the primary grades good teaching and in grammar 
grades some excellent work in reading. 

The effort of the course to subordinate the formal side of reading 
to interesting content and to make literature primarily a cultural 
and moral influence appealing to the higher sentiments and aesthetic 
tastes is well conceived. 

To put this choice material into the course of study is one thing, 
but to make this sort of teaching of literature a reality, with a large 
corps of teachers like that of San Francisco, is another and very 
difficult thing. It requires unity and harmony of effort by the 
whole teaching force, including deputy superintendents, principals, 
special supervisors, and particularly the superintendent of the city 
schools. A large portion of the reading exercises at present is 
rather perfunctory and dull. For collateral readings a much larger 
equipment of well-selected libraries is indispensable. In this respect 
the course of study in San Francisco is too much a thing on paper 
only. 

The introductory statements bearing upon the proper use of 
literary classics in the grammar grades are excellent and set up a 
high standard. The selection of pieces for memorizing throughout 
the grades is admirable and should be enlarged by an introduction 
of more prose passages. 



214 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

In connection with literature the San Francisco course is guilty 
of one striking omission — the regular and systematic use of story 
telling in the three primary grades. No such list of choice stories 
is given, and the fundamental importance of good story telling by the 
teacher and of oral reproduction by the children as a basis for language 
training is overlooked. 

This oral story work is one of the most striking improvements 
in modern education and is commonly recognized in the courses of 
study in our larger and smaller cities and in our educational litera- 
ture generally. The failure to give an important place to story 
telling in primary grades as an introduction to literature and as a 
means of bringing joy and life into primary schools marks the San 
Francisco schools as old-fashioned and decidedly behind the times. 

In connection w'th literature and reading through all the grades, 
the course of study should make ample provision for dramatization 
in its various forms and a broader and richer use of the language in 
oral composition. A failure to develop the dramatic activities 
of children seems to us a marked defect of the San Francisco schools. 
Even those schools which have good facilities in the form of assembly 
h alls seemed to make little use of them for this purpose. 

Language, composition, and grammar. — The course of study as 
outlined for language and composition is well planned for inter- 
mediate and grammar grades and is somewhat systematically carried 
out in the actual programs of the schools. The demand for inter- 
esting and suitable thought material from story, history, geography, 
and nature study as stated in the course of study is a fundamental 
need. The keeping of a neat composition book or folder in which a 
f e n compositions carefully worked out are regularly inscribed is a 
standard requirement, but easily drops into formalism. 

The course of study in language and composition gives excellent 
suggestions touching the main difficulties in making improvements 
in language. First is the correction of common mistakes in oral 
speech by watchful and kindly criticism. A definite list of the 
more common mistakes for each grade would give greater precision 
to this work. Second the choice of topics for composition and 
instructions as to outlines, correct sentence structure, punctuation, 
etc., are well treated. The importance of imitating good models as 
observed and studied in sta ndard authors could be still more empha- 
sized. 

The general statements relative to the value of grammar and 
method of teaching it are clear and practical. In spite of these 
excellent recommendations technical grammar as outlined in this 
course begins in the middle of the sixth grade and continues through 
the seventh and eighth grades. The consensus of opinion in our 
best city schools would delay the beginning of technical grammar 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 215 

to the seventh grade, and many would confine it to the eighth grade 
or push it up into the high school. Many of our State courses of 
study, like that of Illinois, do nothing with technical grammar below 
the seventh grade. 

History and civics. — The course of study in American history is well 
planned, with a proper regard to the choice of materials suitable to 
children in the successive grades. This course is supported by a full 
list of supplementary readers (although the actual supply of adequate 
books is not provided). The course of study also emphasizes the 
special ways of using these materials. For example, in intermediate 
grades the oral use of biographical stories is provided. In grammar 
grades a combination of textbooks and reference materials, with an 
emphasis upon the larger movements in history, is duly set forth and 
emphasized. 

It is probable that the course of study outlined in history is too 
extensive and it could hardly be carried out successfully without 
infringing on the time that should be allotted to other studies, espe- 
cially as civics is rather fully treated in the same connection. 

As compared with the history course in other cities, the general 
plan is excellent. The main emphasis is placed on American history, 
while European history deals mainly with the biography of a few 
leading characters without any effort to trace the development of the 
larger movements of Europe. 

This course of study could be still further reduced and simplified by 
omitting a considerable number of the less important topics, thus 
providing for a fuller and more descriptive treatment of the more 
important ones. 

The close relation between history and geography is but slightly 
touched upon. A proper correlation between history and geography 
would lead to a marked economy of time and a much better under- 
standing of both subjects. Such a close correlation between history 
and geography is now recommended in many courses of study. 

The work of civics is provided for in the course of study, first, as a 
part of the history, and secondly, as a substitute for history in the last 
half of the eighth grade. 

There is always danger, in teaching civics in a separate textbook, of 
making the treatment abstract and general rather than special and 
concrete. The exploiting of important topics in geography and 
history in the interest of civics training seems to us a more practical 
and effective plan for teaching civics. In any case topics in civics 
need to be abundantly illustrated in the concrete. 

The study of local government in its concrete phases is perhaps the 
best means of saving this subject from meaningless abstraction. 
The curriculum of the Horace Mann School, in New York City, 



216 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



introduces a full study of the City of New York as a means of concrete 
illustration for civics, geography, etc. 1 

Nature study and elementary science. — The nature study course as 
outlined in the 1911 course of study does not amount to much. It 
urges strongly the "naturalizing" of the other studies by providing 
a more realistic treatment of all studies. This is well in itself, but 
does not provide a nature-study course. The supplementary course 
of 1915 tries to make good this deficiency by outlining a course based 
on the Murche Science Readers to be used rather freely by the teachers. 
Under the circumstances it is probably well to have such an outline. 
But the assignment of a set of science readers as the basis of the course 
can not be regarded as any adequate solution of the problem of science 
in the grades. A bookish approach to science is wrong. This problem 
will have to be taken up more seriously and a real nature-study course 
provided, based on a first-hand contact with and study of soils, cli- 
mates, trees and other plants, birds and animals, and outdoor nature 
and its forces and phenomena. A more definite outline of topics in 
applied science also should be provided for the upper grades. 

The outline of lessons for physiology and hygiene, which is closely 
related to the science course, is well based on the idea of the practical 
value of such study. It should be a means of promoting personal 
health, and also social and municipal sanitation. The lessons sug- 
gested are good, but the whole series of important topics should be 
more carefully worked out. The books named for study and reference 
are also practical and well chosen. 

City courses of study over the country show a wide variation in 
selecting topics for elementary science. There is at present a strong 
tendency to emphasize the school and home garden and simple forms 
of agriculture. 

Spelling and penmanship. — The remarks on spelling are prudent and 
the plan outlined is, on the whole, practical. There is probably an 
overemphasis of the use of the spelling book, and the work is based 
on the regular use of the speller from the second grade on. The words 
coming up in the reading, language, and other studies should form a 
part of the regular spelling exercises, and the application of spelling 
to these studies is of equal importance. The correlation of studies in 
this course is, in theory at least, well provided for. 

The course in penmanship holds too closely to static chart forms 
and copy-book models. The free-arm movement developed properly 
can dispense with the copy book. But it requires well-trained 
teachers who have themselves passed through the drill. 

Music. — The subject of music in the elementary and high schools 
of San Francisco is discussed extensively in Chapter X. 

1 See Ch. IX of this report. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 



217 



Supplementary materials. — The great insufficiency of supplementary 
materials of all sorts was to the survey committee a striking character- 
istic of the San Francisco schools. A full list of all the supplementary 
books and libraries at hand in 12 representative grammar schools and 
elementary schools of San Francisco was furnished by the principals 
of these schools at the suggestion of one of the officials. 

The Jean Parker School is the best supplied of these 12. Its list of 
supplementary materials for geography runs as follows: 



Copies. 

California The Golden 19 

How We Are Fed 17 

How We Are Clothed 9 

Carpenter's — 

Africa 3 

Asia 3 

Australia 3 

Europe 4 

South America 5 

North America 4 



Copies. 

Coe's Modern Europe 3 

Winslow's Earth and its People 9 

Win slow 's — 

Europe 8 

United States. 9 

Distant Countries 8 

Our American Neighbors 9 

Total supplementary books in 
geography 113 



This gives for the use of about 400 children (fifth to eighth grade, 
inclusive) 113 volumes. 

If the plans outlined in the course of study are to be carried out, 
five times as many supplementary books will be needed. Ten times 
as many would not be excessive. * 

This school, like the others, is supplied with regular sets of readers 
from the first to the fifth grades. In addition to the supplementary 
readers in geography, history, and nature study, the Jean Parker 
School has a general library of 211 volumes; also reference books 
(dictionaries and encyclopedias). 

A general library of 211 volumes, even if well selected, is very small 
for a school of 775 children. A well-selected library of 1,200 books 
would be of genuine value to both teachers and children in carrying 
on the studies of such a school. The other 11 schools which reported 
their full list of books are not so well supplied as the Jean Parker 
School. The Hearst School, for example, with 671 children of all 
grades, reports only 60 volumes of supplementary books in geography, 
and a general library of 400 books (names of books not given). 

The Jefferson School, with eight classes of children of all grades, 
has no geographical readers, and a general library of only 150 books. 
In spite of this handicap, the Jefferson School, by reason of the energy 
and spirit of its principal and teachers, was working well. Help and 
equipment are needed. 

None of these schools are properly supplied with supplementary 
readers and other library facilities. Teachers and schools can not do 
effective work under these conditions. A liberal allowance of money 



218 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN" FRANCISCO. 



for supplying needed reference books and libraries throughout the 
entire system of schools is strongly urged. 

The following tabulated list gives the number of books reported 
for each of these 12 schools: 

Number of boohs in schools. 





Readers. 


History, 
volumes. 


Geogra- 


Science, 
volumes. 


General reference. 


Vol* 


Schools and classes. 


Sets. 


Volumes. 


phy, 
volumes. 


Diction- 
aries. 


Cyclo- 
pedias. 


in li 
brary. 


Jean Parker, 17 classes 


26 
35 
33 
24 
38 
36 
36 
32 


552 
748 
877 
447 
840 
802 
793 
624 


239 

325 
54 
60 

175 
49 

140 

so 

215 
100 
243 

287 


113 33 


6 
3 
1 

1 

2 

7 

6 

22 

17 

8 

15 

4 


164 
3 


211 


Hearst, 16 classes 


60 
30 


30 


400 


Emerson, 14 classes, 5 grades 


463 


Jefferson, 8 classes, all grades 






150 


Franklin, 17 classes 


65 
42 
51 
90 

138 
20 

108 

55 


20 




218 


Henry Durant, 17 classes 


9 

1 
22 
21 
24 
29: 

62 


200 


Bryant, 15 classes 


42 


709 


Glen Park, 18 classes 


310 


Mission Grammar, 16 classes 


34 




Washington, 18 classes 


11 

32 

15 


236 
705 

328 


320 


John S wett, 19 classes 




125 


Columbia Cosmopolitan Gram- 
mar, all grades 


43 


168 











Also 1 atlas. 



The movement toward the establishment of an educational museum 
should be encouraged, necessary supplies of all kinds, such as lanterns, 
pictures, phonographic records, gymnasium apparatus, globes, maps, 
etc., should be supplied much more liberally to all the schools, and a 
fuller, more effective Cooperation between the schools and the public 
libraries should be established. The capacity of the public libraries 
for service to the schools will soon be very greatly increased and 
should be utilized to the fullest possible extent. The library officials 
manifested eagerness to cooperate with the schools. 

In Boston, St. Louis, Chicago, and other cities well-formulated 
plans have been carried out to supply the schools with pictures and 
other illustrative materials, and even with lanterns, lantern slides, 
and moving pictures. School museums of natural history, geography, 
and other subjects are not only opened for class excursions, but for 
the distribution of illustrative specimens to the schools. 

The teachers of San Francisco made a notable beginning toward 
the establishment of a school museum when they gathered together 
a collection of materials at the close of the recent Panama Exposi- 
tion, derived from the various departments of that great exhibit. 
But these collections need to be put to the direct service of the 
schools. 

The following quotation from the annual report of the superintend- 
ent of the Boston schools (1913) applies to the school course of San 
Francisco and of many other cities: 

A course of study should be open to yearly revision, and occasionally, as often as 
once every five years, it should be given a critical revision in detail. The revision 
should be frequent, both to keep the course abreast of current educational though 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 219 

and to revitalize the teaching. A course of study that becomes static loses step with 
life. It trains children in the traditions of subjects instead of exercising them in 
those aspects of subjects that are of importance in the world of to-day and to-morrow. 
It accumulates archaic material and loses sight of the purpose of education to enable 
the pupil to get experience in real situations and to learn to adjust himself to condi- 
tions around him. It becomes a stract and remote from the life of the child, instead 
of seeking to develop an interest in current civic activities, and through these domi- 
nating interests to give him training in life and for life. 

Discipline and instruction. — In general our observations dis- 
covered to us a wholesome and hearty spirit in the school life. Be- 
tween teachers and children there was good will and cooperation. 
The boys and girls were happy, and very little scolding or nagging 
was seen. The severity and harshness of the old-fashioned school 
have disappeared, and there is a genuine social life. At the same 
time there was orderliness and prompt obedience to required standards 
and full recognition of authority and a quiet polite behavior resting 
on mutual respect. 

The relations also between principals and teachers as showm in 
the school buildings and in social meetings at noon were cordial 
and displayed a fine spirit of harmony and cooperation. 

The children showed a healthy, hearty physical aspect, due per- 
haps to the fact that they live so much out of doors. While the gen- 
eral temperature of the rooms (during February) was often not above 
65° F., both children and teachers .seemed to enjoy the freshness and 
to suffer no inconvenience. The massed exercises given to the whole 
school in the open air under the leadership of the principal or of the 
physical director offers an inspiring spectacle and an exhilerating 
physical training. These superior outdoor exercises were observed 
under the direction of the principal in the Hancock School, also in 
the Bryant Cosmopolitan School, under the direction of the super- 
visor of physical training, and in a few other schools. 

In several respects the prevailing methods of instruction do not 
come up to the standards set forth in the course of study. The 
course of study itself and later circulars of instruction sent out by 
the department of superintendence set up high standards along defi- 
nite lines. The question is not whether they have fully reached these 
ideals, but whether the teachers and superintendents are working 
definitely, consciously, and steadily toward them. 

The general average of practice in the schools aims at a formal 
proficiency in reading, arithmetic, language, and writing, and at the 
acquisition of a definite quantity of information in geography and 
history, as outlined in the course. Teachers in many cases carry 
out this plan reasonably well, and are satisfied with the results. 
Long experience has given them clearness and definiteness as to the 
results desired and a regular plan of work for securing these results. 
Evidently the teachers have much confidence in what they are doing, 



220 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN EKANCISCO. 

but their standards are not high enough nor broad enough. The 
standards set up are formal and commonplace rather than dynamic 
and progressive. They are not strongly cultural. The schools of San 
Francisco have not developed strongly along what may be called 
modern lines. The emphasis is still mainly given to reading, writing, 
arithmetic, and language, and to the mastery of the formal arts con- 
nected with these subjects. As a consequence the methods of study 
and teaching which have beem developed elsewhere in connection 
with the newer subjects in the curriculum have been relatively 
neglected. 

The tendencies toward too much formalism are illustrated in the 
following points : 

1. In teaching writing the static chart forms (hung upon the walls 
for guidance and imitation) are still largely adhered to as a basis, 
while the more recent development of writing on the basis of free- 
arm movement is introduced in only a few schools. These few cases 
demonstrate how the writing should be developed under strong and 
effective supervision. In the Madison School the free-arm movement 
was carried out with excellent success in the departmental work of the 
upper grades. The same excellence was noticed in the writing 
exercises of the Hancock School under a specially expert teacher of 
writing. 

2. The excessive use of phonograms in primary reading as a drill 
on meaningless forms has become a routine habit with many teachers . 
A simple phonetic device has been carried to an extreme and has 
become the basis of a method in primary reading. In one room 
were counted 180 of these separate phonograms arranged on the 
upper blackboard. They were being successively drilled upon. 
These long lists of phonograms to be drilled upon are very common. 
This was a noticeable feature in a large number of schools. 

3. In the reading lessons of intermediate and grammar grades 
there was a great deal of old-fashioned, monotonous reading, pro- 
nouncing words with little thought or expression. It is mere 
reading on and on, repeating words without setting up higher stand- 
ards of expression, with but little dramatic interest or stimulus. 
There were exceptions where lively thinking and strong expression 
were clearly shown, but in the main the reading w&s somewhat 
lifeless. There was necessity for greater variety and originality 
in method of getting at and expressing thought. Problems should be 
set up, discussions started, parts dramatized, and other reading mat- 
ter drawn in. Both teachers and children stick too close to the 
book. Some notable exceptions to. this rule of monotony may be 
named, as, for example, a first-grade room in the Monroe School 
where a beautiful spirit prevailed, and efficient reading. An eighth- 
grade class reading Evangeline in the Jean Parker School was doing 
very superior work. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 221 

The lack of dictionaries in many schools hinders a proper training 
in word study. 

4. Technical grammar, as in all schools, has a tendency to become 
dry and theoretical. Even in fifth and sixth grades there was drill 
on the definitions of the parts of speech, although this is not the 
intent of the course of study. It requires lively teaching to keep the 
language work out of formal ruts. Formal grammar should not be 
attempted in the fifth grade. 

5. The geography lessons showed an unmistakable tendency 
toward map questions and the ordinary drill on names and locations. 
This tendency is emphasized by the ''cumulative reviews," which, 
even in the course of study, are tabulated as mere lists of names. 
The geography lessons were of the condensed textbook order. The 
history tends to run into a similar mold of brief summary statements 
and memorizing of leading facts, with frequent repetitions and drills. 
In a fifth-grade geography class the children memorized a bare list of 
names and locations. In a fourth grade a list of cities, products, and 
mountains was named and repeated. This kind of drill was often 
carried too far. 

In these various ways the general tendency of the teaching to drop 
into formal lines and into narrow methods of drill work is manifest. 

On the other hand, the schools of San Francisco, generally speaking, 
have not been progressive and diversified in concrete modes of instruc- 
tion, in the use of graphic and lively methods and materials for illus- 
trating topics . They have not taken up sufficiently into the treatment 
of studies, the great enrichment of interesting thought materials 
which is one of the most striking features of our modern education. 
This failure to appreciate and make use of the enriching elements of 
study is shown in several ways, as follows : 

1 . There is a meager use of skillful story telling in the primary grades. 
The graphic presentation of good stories by the teacher and the 
reproduction of them by the children exercise a most stimulating, 
healthy, and practical influence in primary work. Dramatization 
is also important. The child learns much from both the conscious 
and the unconscious imitation of the language of others, but he does 
so chiefly because he appreciates what they say and he desires to 
express it himself. This he does in the case of story telling only when 
the story really interests him. He also has experiences and originates 
thoughts of his own which he desires to express so that he will be 
understood and appreciated by others, and this kind of language 
teaching is of great importance, since it encourages originality in 
thought as well as in expression. School children get too much into 
the habit of expressing merely the thoughts of others. Dramatiza- 
tion that furnishes a real dramatic situation, supplies the materials 
necessary to work it out, and encourages the children to find ways and 
means of expressing their own notions of what should be done, is one 



222 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

of the best means of language instruction, but one which is too often 
neglected. 

2. The oral presentation and discussion of topics in geography, 
history, and nature study in intermediate grades afford opportunity 
for the best kind of skill and influence in these grades. Skillful oral, 
concrete teaching of this sort is not made a feature of the San Fran- 
cisco schools. 

3. Teachers use the blackboard very little for illustrative sketching, 
for rapid drawings and diagrams, and for various modes of graphic 
representation. Where teachers fail to do this, they fail, of course, 
in cultivating the same habit in children. And yet, one of our best 
established theories in education is that children should be encouraged 
and developed in all modes of expressing their ideas, in drawing, con- 
structing, and acting out their thoughts. Teachers should cultivate 
freedom, flexibility, and ready skill in all modes of motor expression. 
In the actual classroom teaching we saw very little of this. It is a 
striking weakness. 

In the Jefferson and a few other schools were found a good molded 
map of California and excellent local maps drawn by the children on 
the board. 

The regular drawing lessons, which should make teachers and 
pupils facile in the use of chalk or pencil in the varied graphic modes 
of expression, seem to fail of their proper result. They do not carry 
over into other studies. In other words, the drawing lessons do not 
function in the other studies. Many other schools besides those of 
San Francisco show the same weakness; that is, the failure to bring 
practical results. But San Francisco schools are particularly lack- 
ing in this practical correlation of studies. 

In a few cases children were seen sketching freely at the board, 
but this was exceptional. 

4. Home geography, although emphasized in the course of study, 
is poorly represented in the actual teaching. Excursions are very 
unusual. San Francisco is marvelously rich in local scenery, in 
varied commercial and industrial activities, and in striking objects 
interesting in themselves, and suggestive of foreign countries and 
of far-reaching relations to the outside world. No general use is 
made of this remarkably rich and varied local material. Teachers 
were holding to the usual routine of book work as if they were living 
in the flat prairies of Illinois. The magnificent harbor, girt in with 
mountains, the docks piled with foreign goods, the great ships at 
anchor in the bay or alongside the wharfs, the variety of ocean-going 
ships, sailing vessels, steamers, and battleships, the forts and bat- 
teries guarding the entrance to the harbor, the ocean itself, and sea 
beaches, the islands, the crowded ferries and ferry station, the foreign 
populations with their peculiar dress and modes of living, the fac- 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 22 S 

tories and shops, the parks and buildings of San Francisco, all these 
and other striking objects of interest furnish an almost unequaled 
richness of geographical local material. But the schools, as such, 
scarcely notice these things. On mention of this matter to several 
of the teachers, they seemed astonished at the richness of local mate- 
rial they had overlooked. 

During the present year a well-organized plan was carried out for 
class visits to the Panama Exposition, including definite surveys of 
the buildings and a study of the main exhibits. This was an admira- 
ble use of a fine opportunity. But San Francisco itself, with it& 
harbor, with its parks and public buildings, its shipyards, ferries, 
terminal stations, factories, and truck gardens, with its mountain 
scenery and ocean views, is a daily and permanent exposition to be 
observed and used in many ways. 

5. Classroom instruction is too closely limited to textbook matter. 
The textbooks are entirely too meager to offer a satisfactory mental 
diet for children. The richness of thought that has come into our 
modern studies is not found in textbooks but in local objects, in sup- 
plementary readers, in larger books of history, in narratives of biog- 
raphy and travel, in fiction and stories, in invention and science. 
Holding rather closely to dry and dull textbook material, teaching, 
as a whole, lacks richness and spirit. Teachers somehow do not feel 
the necessity for getting out into the world of real life, of struggle 
and conflict and romance, and of awakening the children to a stronger 
and keener mental life. The lack of library equipment emphasises 
this narrow and meager sort of instruction. 

In a fourth-grade class in geography, the teacher held strictly to 
the book questions. In a seventh-grade class the whole class recited 
the definitions in grammar in concert in a formal manner. In a 
fourth-grade geography class there were drills on names, but no 
thought questions. 

The schools studies in San Francisco do not reflect enough of life. 
The teachers fail to bring into their instruction the full flavor and 
relish of experience. Strong, active leaders are needed to turn the 
children into libraries, into shops and gardens, and into home and 
world activities. 

In a few cases we found the National Geographical Magazine and 
other similar fine illustrative material in use. Such material should 
be made a decisive feature of history and geography. San Francisco, 
so far as the schools are concerned, is unusually poverty striken in 
these essential particulars. The schools and teachers are suffering 
from a dearth of thought materials. Schools can never be of a high 
grade with such meager outfit of study materials. The best teachers 
in the world would be seriously handicapped by such conditions. 



224 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

On the other hand, the school studies do not call forth in children 
sufficiently strong effort. In some cases the tasks are made too easy. 
In reading lessons, children in all grades should learn to pronounce 
new words for themselves. They should become self reliant in inter- 
preting new difficulties. They need constant help, bu* ij should 
be frequently thrown back upon their own resources. I e seventh- 
grade class the teacher pronounced the new and difficu^ words for 
the children without requiring them first to make an effort to pro- 
nounce them for themselves. 

The work in grammar grades especially is too easy. Teachers inter- 
pret and explain to such an extent that boys and girls do not develop 
self-reliance and willingness to meet and overcome difficulties. Children 
at this age should encounter real thought problems and struggle with 
them without the intrusive help of the teacher. A science lesson on 
levers in a seventh grade was elaborately explained where no expla- 
nation was needed. In arithmetic, grammar, history, and literature 
children should become self-reliant thinkers. There were some fine 
exceptions, showing strong masterly teaching and vigorous independ- 
ent thinking, but in general difficult problems were too much predi- 
gested. 

Possibly the introduction of more men into the teaching force as 
principals would lead to more rigid standards of thinking and to 
severer requirements. In any case more mental stamina should be 
developed in grammar-school pupils. 

The growth of this independent thinking power in children calls 
for a high order of skill in teaching and for strong character in 
teachers. With a fully developed course of study, strong super- 
vision, and schools well equipped with libraries and apparatus, theVe 
is no reason why a force of experienced teachers like those of San 
Francisco should fail to satisfy these superior standards. 

Departmental teaching. — In a few grammar schools departmental 
teaching has been developing vigorously and with good results. It 
is a phase of specialization in teaching which deserves to be fully 
tried out. In. some of the schools where departmental instruction 
was being tried the work seemed scattering and superficial. 

A more systematic plan for developing and organizing departmental 
teaching, encouraged by the superintendent and directed by strong 
progressive principals, is needed. The value of such instruction 
should be tested out under better auspices, with close supervision, 
with a full equipment of libraries, reference books, and maps. De- 
partmental teaching offers a chance for intensive work in organizing 
and enriching school studies, and it may well improve and advance 
methods of teaching throughout the whole system. The teachers 
and principals of the San Francisco schools deserve to be encouraged 
and supported in such efforts to improve instruction. In every 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 225 

department of the school system, every phase of work, specialized 
skill and efficiency should be recognized and rewarded. At present 
there is little of such encouragement. 

Supervision. 1 — (1) General. — There are at present live deputy 
superintcv^nts, only four of whom do any supervisory work. The 
city is dip 3 into four districts, and each deputy is in charge of one 
of these Cy-tricts, whose schools he visits on an average once in fivo 
or six weeks. It is decided by lot at the beginning of each term which 
of the four districts each deputy is to supervise. Changes, therefore, 
may and usually do occur every term. It is evident that under 
such a plan no consistent policy of supervision can be worked out, 
followed up from term to term, and the results definitely determined. 
In fact there appears to be no well-defined policy of supervision, no 
aim clearly conceived and consistently worked out. Consequently, 
when asked what real professional help and stimulation they received 
from the superintendents in charge of their work, principals fre- 
quently replied, "Very little" and some said, "None whatever." 
This condition is partly to be accounted for by the fact that the 
deputy superintendent feels that he has in reality very little authority. 
Under the charter, the superintendent is elected by vote of the people 
and is empowered to select and appoint his deputies regardless of the 
approval or disapproval of the board of education. 

The members of the board of education are appointed by the 
mayor for a term of four years and the board has full authority to 
appoint the principals of the schools without regard to the recom- 
mendations of the superintendent, and this we were told is not 
infrequently done. Consequently, the school principal stands a little 
nearer to the real seat of authority in San Francisco schools than does 
the deputy superintendent and may, if he chooses to do so, ignore 
the latter's recommendations or follow them only just so far as he 
pleases. Moreover, the charter provides that no one can be ap- 
pointed deputy superintendent who has not resided in San Francisco 
five years immediately preceding his appointment, making it imposs- 
ible for the superintendent to go beyond the city for the best avail- 
able men in the country for this position. Here one meets with a 
fact that impressed the surveyor again and again — that the San 
Francisco public-school system is not planned nor is it operated pri- 
marily for the good of the children who need to be educated, but 
rather for San Franciscans who need positions. For instance, a 
married woman otherwise properly qualified can not now be ap- 
pointed to a position in the schools unless she can show that her 

1 Supervision is discussed at length in Chapter III. The briefer discussion here has special reference 
to supervision as it affects the elementary schools, and serves to show to what extent the members of the 
survey committee assigned to the study of the elementary schools realize the inadequacy of supervision 
in these schools. 

93S15— 17 15 



226 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

husband is unable to support her. If she can show this, she may be 
appointed. Whether she may or may not be appointed is not, there- 
fore, determined by her ability to teach little children, but by a 
condition which has nothing to do with such ability. 

(2) Principals. — In charge of the elementary schools there are in 
all 73 women and 10 men. Three of the men are principals of the 
intermediate schools and 2 are in charge of 1-room schools having 
fewer than 20 children. The male principals are 12 per cent of the 
whole group and are in charge of 12i per cent of all the pupils in the 
elementary schools. Their average salary is $2,008 and their aver- 
age length of service in the San Francisco schools is 37.6 years. With 
one exception none of them entered the service of the schools within 
the last quarter of a century, and with four exceptions all of them 
began work either as teachers or principals in San Francisco more 
than 40 years ago. Eleven other men are now employed as teachers 
in the elementary schools, 7 of whom are teaching manual training 
in the intermediate schools. Of the remaining 4, only 2 hold high- 
school certificates. If the present policy of the school board to 
appoint all elementary principals from the corps of elementary 
teachers is to be continued, it will evidently not be many years until 
all the elementary principals will be women. 

Of the women principals no one has entered the service within the 
last 10 years, 11 were taken into the system between 10 and 20 years 
ago, and 16 between 20 and 30 years ago. One has served the schools 
for 53 years and 15 between 40 and 50 years. Their average period 
of service is 32 years, and their average salary for 1914-15 was 
$1,906. 

There appears to be very little effective effort on the part of the 
higher school officials to stimulate the professional growth of the 
principals or to increase their practical efficiency in the supervision 
and management of their schools. They are not urged or even 
encouraged to study the work of other schools either within the city 
or outside of it, or to attempt to gain a better understanding of the 
actual social and industrial conditions of the city and the important 
educational needs to which these conditions give rise. 

Principals' meetings presided over by a deputy superintendent are 
held once a month, but these meetings are not regarded by many of 
the principals as having much professional value. The past year 
the following were among the subjects discussed at these meetings: 
"The new law," "Visits to the fair/' "Making registers," "Lists of 
defective children," "Supplies," "Adjustment of desks," "Number 
cards," "Music charts," "Vaccination certificates," "Kecord cards," 
"Defective vision," "The content side of reading." These topics are 
all more or less important, but they deal chiefly with routine matters 
and administrative details that might have been equally well handled 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 227 

by official bulletins issued from the superintendent's office as occasion 
required, thus reserving the principals' meetings for the vigorous 
study and discussion of the larger, more vital, problems of expert 
school supervision in the present meaning of that term. On account 
of the absence of vigorous coordinating leadership exerted by the 
central office, every school principal in San Francisco is practically 
a law unto himself. If a principal is too old or too well satisfied with 
matters as they are to think out or venture upon anything new for 
the improvement of his school, one is certain to find him putting into 
operation practices and ideas that have long been discarded else- 
where as being out of harmony with modern educational theory. 
On the other hand, where there is a principal of vigorous mind, stim- 
ulating personality, optimistic in temper, deeply interested in his 
work, and an independent student of education, one finds a splendid 
school reflecting this spirit and influence of the principal in every 
aspect of the work. We found some such principals in San Francisco 
in charge of schools that would, if they were fully provided with 
supplementary and other materials needed for instruction, take very 
high rank in any city. 

(3) Special supervisors. — The great outstanding need of the San 
Francisco schools everywhere apparent is that of expert professional 
leadership, of stimulating and constructive supervision. There is no 
authoritative head of the system having the final responsibility for 
the work in instruction and given liberty and opportunity commen- 
surate with this responsibility. The board of education itself too 
often assumes burdens which should belong to the superintendent. 

The school system is also weak in special supervision. Special 
supervision is provided for music, art, manual training, home econo- 
mics, physical education, and for the primary grades. The number 
of supervisors in each case is wholly inadequate for the work they 
are supposed to do, and there are other subjects needing supervision 
for which none is now supplied. The need of expert supervision in 
the special subjects mentioned is especially great in San Francisco 
for two reasons: First, the present method of selecting new teachers 
for the elementary schools does not guarantee that those who are 
chosen will have had sufficient professional training in these subjects 
to teach them; second, no provision is now made for the training of 
teachers in these subjects after they are appointed and while they are 
in the service of the schools. The system now provides one super- 
visor each for the manual training, home economics, physical culture, 
and the primary grades; four for drawing; and three for music. 
In music and drawing, for which the greatest amount of supervision 
is provided, there is one supervisor to every 15,000 children in the 
former and one to every 11,000 in the latter. The supervisor's 
visits, therefore, are of necessity very infrequent to any school, and 



228 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

there aro some schools, for example the Jean Parker, to which the 
drawing supervisors aro not permitted to go at all. Assuming that 
the board has been fortunate in every case in its choice of the present 
supervisors, it is evident that work of excellent quality can not be 
done unless the supervisors confino their efforts to a small number of 
schools. 

SELECTION, IMPROVEMENT, PROMOTION, AND TENURE OF TEACHERS. 1 

All new teachers of tho elementary schools aro now selected by 
competitive examination, which is both oral and written, and requires 
that the applicant should be a graduate from a Slate normal school or 
have been in attendance as a regular student for two years in an insti- 
tution of collegiate grade or have had two years of actual teaching 
experience subsequent to graduating from an institution of high- 
school grade. The applicant who is successful in tho written examina- 
tion must make a grade of at least 75 per cent in each of tho following 
subjects: Arithmetic, American history (including American institu- 
tions and current events), general science, personal and public hygiene, 
and methods of teaching and school management. 

There is no formal examination in English or in any other subject 
contained in tho elementary courso of study. The oral examination 
is conducted by tho board of education and is designed chiefly to test 
tho applicant's personality and general intelligence. Applicants 
roceiving a grade of less than 75 from three members of the board 
are rejected, regardless of the averages made by them in the written 
or in the oral examination. The successful applicants are listed in 
the order of their averages in tho written and oral examinations, and 
all assignments to teaching positions aro made by unanimous vote of 
the board of education from the threo highest on tho list at the timo 
tho choice is mado. All applicants thus listed must servo during a 
probationary period of at least two years before they can be appointed 
as regular teachers. Finally, appointments are mado by the board of 
education upon the recommendation of the superintendent and are 
practically for lifo. 

This plan is an excellent one in many respects, but is weak in others. 
Under tho present charter it makes possible political manipulation 
in the manner of conducting tho oral examination and in the final 
appointment of teachers. It also fails to determine the teacher's 
fitness to teach such subjects as drawing, physical training, music, 
otc. It seems to bo operated honestly and justly by the present 
board of education and to be securing in general a competent corps of 
teachers. The majority of those recently appointed appear to be 
intelligent, capable, and professionally well trained. 

• i Discussed here with special reference to their effect on the elementary schools. For administrative 
phases of these subjects see Ch. III. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 229 

In spite of the fact that the salaries paid to elementary teachers 
in San Francisco are relatively high, and that the appointment is 
practically for life, the ratio of desirable applicants at the competi- 
tive examinations to the number of new teachers needed is a decreas- 
ing one. From present indications it will not be long before this 
method of securing satisfactory teachers by going into the open 
market for them will prove inadequate and other means will have 
to be employed. Either the board of education will need to main- 
tain its own training school for teachers or else a better adjustment 
between the San Francisco State Normal School and the public-school 
system than now prevails will have to be made. 

The remarkable opportunity of the San Francisco State Normul 
School to render professional service of the highest order to the 
public schools of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda is 
at present almost wholly lost, for the lack of earnest cooperation 
between the management of the normal school and of the public- 
school systems of these cities. No State normal in the United States 
has a better opportunity, so far at least as location is concerned, to 
study and to influence profoundly modern city education than the 
San Francisco Normal, and yet we found there almost no disposition 
or desire to cooperate with the city school system in the training of 
teachers and in the solution of the many complex and difficult prob- 
lems of modern city education. The Normal School makes very 
little use of the city schools for observation and practice teaching, and 
its extreme advocacy of individual instruction affords its students 
practically no opportunity to observe or to practice class teaching 
such as they will inevitably be called upon to do when they become 
teachers in the city public schools. There is in fact nowhere any 
systematic effort, by extension courses or other means, to promote 
the professional and cultural improvement of teachers while in the 
service. The absence of any such plan results in one of the greatest 
weaknesses of the San Francisco school system. 

Teachers of the elementary schools are not distinguished by differ- 
ence in rank. Promotions are made by an increase in salary which 
is accomplished by changing the grade in which the teacher is em- 
ployed. Those to whom the highest salaries are paid arc placed in 
the first, seventh, or eighth grade; teachers in the fifth and sixth 
grades are also paid slightly more than those in the second, third, 
and fourth. This arrangement is bad for two reasons. It provides 
the poorest instruction in the middle grades, where in all the schools 
there is the greatest amount of retardation and discouragement of 
pupils, and it tends in practice to place the smallest classes in charge 
of the best teachers. These evils, however, are not so great in San 
Francisco as they would be if more accurate means were used to 
determine the actual efficiency and merit of teachers. Impersonal 



230 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

tests are seldom used to measure the efficiency of instruction. Princi- 
pals are required to report twice a year on the efficiency of their 
teachers in instruction and discipline, but we found no clear and 
general understanding among them as to just what should be meant 
by the grades "excellent," "good," etc., applied in estimating these 
two aspects of the teacher's work. Moreover, the slight importance 
attached to the judgments of principals as to the actual merits of 
teachers is shown by the fact that these judgments are not recorded 
on the teacher's permanent card in the superintendent's office. The 
card contains a space for such record, but it is never transferred from 
the lists sent in by the principals. The special blanks used by the 
principals in recording their judgments are kept in packages and filed 
under the name of the school from which they come. Examination 
of one of these packages showed that all the teachers of that par- 
ticular school had been marked from the first, and without exception, 
as excellent both in discipline and instruction. In justice to those 
teachers who by their zeal and actual efficiency deserve to be called 
excellent and as a means of encouraging excellence in others, a much 
more accurate method of determining the real merits of teachers ought 
to be worked out and put into effective operation. 

As shown in Table 48, about one-third of the present corps of 
elementary teachers received their initial preparation for teaching in 
schools more than 30 years ago, when the great problems of city life 
and education were hardly thought of. Since there has been no 
stimulating effort to improve the teachers in the service except 
through the customary forms of supervision, which have been very 
inadequate, there must be many teachers on the pay roll who can 
not be called modern in their ideas and methods and who have long 
outlived their usefulness to the schools. Such teachers should be 
pensioned and retired from the service as soon as this can in justice 
be done. 

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

A. School organization. — 1. The fundamental purpose and concern 
of the public schools is the education of the children. This must be 
recognized, practically as well as theoretically, and everything else 
must be subordinated to this end. The one problem of the board of 
education is to make every dollar of the people's money spent on the 
public schools accomplish as much as possible in this direction. 

2. A careful study should be made of the actual results obtained in 
the various types of elementary schools now in operation in the city, 
to ascertain which type is the most efficient and economical and why. 

3. Division of the city into elementary-school districts, and re- 
stricting the attendance of children to the school of the district in 
which they reside in so far as this can be done, is recommended. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 231 

4. Small schools are expensive and should be abandoned as rapidly 
as new buildings can be erected. The most efficient and economical 
schools arc those enrolling from 800 to 1,000 pupils: As far as practi- 
cable it should be the policy of the board to provide schools of this 
size. 

5. The proportion of men principals should be increased, and the 
present unwise policy of appointing all principals from the San 
Francisco corps of teachers should be abandoned. The aim should be 
to secure the strongest possible principals, both men and women, 
regardless of where they may be found. This applies also to the 
selection of deputy superintendents, directors, and supervisors, and 
other school officials. (See chapter on administration.) 

6. Fuller provision should be made for supervisors of special 
departments and subjects. (See chapter on administration.) 

7. More adequate provision should be made for the education of 
feeble-minded and backward children and other special classes. 

B. Course of study. — 8. The introductory statement of principles 
in the course of study should be revised in the interests of the newer 
aims of education. 

9. A more complete up-to-date course of study, covering the 
modern as well as the older standard subjects, should be prepared and 
printed for the use of officers and teachers and the information of the 
public. The entire course needs to be revised and adjusted to modern 
life and community needs. It should cease to be formal and static 
and become dynamic and progressive. It should emphasize less the 
memorized forms of knowledge, and lay greater stress upon self- 
activity, initiative, and appreciation. A wiser allotment of time 
should be made among the general subjects, and the content of each 
subject should be apportioned to the several grades in accordance 
with the developing ability of the children. 

10. In literature and language, story-telling and dramatization 
should be systematically developed. 

11. The unusual advantages for the study of home geography in 
San Francisco and its environment should be fully utilized. 

12. The cumulative reviews provided for in the course of study 
at the beginning of each half year should give way to a richer treat- 
ment of topics, to comparisons, and to reflective thinking. 

13. As a support to the course of study the schools are in press- 
ing need of far larger and richer libraries of reference and supple- 
mentary materials. 

14. As a whole the school subjects should be closely correlated. 
The separate studies in fact should be less isolated. Viewed in its 
entirety, "the course of study should reveal a strong continuity of 
thought running through the grades in the various school branches. 



232 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

C. Discipline and instruction. — 15. In primary grades the more 
lively and graphic forms of instruction, including drawing, story- 
telling, dramatization, and outdoor excursions, should be employed 
much more than they are. 

16. In intermediate and grammar grades, on the basis of an en- 
riched course of study, there should be more stimulating thought 
and less memoriter work. This need appears in the monotonous 
reading of the middle and upper grades, in the map questions and 
drills in history and geography, in the concert recital of grammar 
rules, and in the unreal nature study. 

17. There should be a systematic development of free oral dis- 
cussion in history, geography, nature study, and literature. 

18. The free and constant use of the blackboard by teacher and 
pupils as a clear and graphic means of expression has been very 
much neglected and should receive positive encouragement. 

19. Home geography, with excursions and later discussion of the 
same, should be made a very important means of enriching all studies. 

20. School studies should everywhere reflect more of real life. 
21: The meager outlines of textbooks should be greatly enriched 

by material from other sources. 

22. More strenuous effort in solving problems and in self-reliant 
thinking should be required of grammar school children. 

23. Departmental teaching should receive more of careful direction 
and encouragement. It should have better organized and richer 
subject matter. 

24. More definite means for securing growth and improvement of 
teachers in classroom method should be provided by helpful criticism, 
by meetings for observing and discussing model lessons, and by op- 
portunities of visiting and observing good teachers. 

25. There should be a reduction of the size of many classes, so as to 
allow more individual instruction. 

D. Supervision. — 26. For proper direction and administration of 
the schools a now and more comprehensive determination of the 
policy of public education with reference to the aims to be realized, 
the place and function .of the public school in the total education of 
the child, its relation to other educative agencies, and the proper 
methods of cooperating with them and its own proper work is needed, 
and a more vigorous, stimulating, and consistent up-to-date leader- 
ship in all departments of the work. This last is apparently the 
greatest need of the 'system. 

27. Facts and results which should be known for the efficient 
administration of the schools should be kept and published in ac- 
cordance with present usage in the best city school systems. Tho 
records found by the survey commission were extremely meager and 
of such a nature as to throw scarcely any light whatever upon the 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 233 

most important problems of administration and supervision. There 
wore, for instance, no records by which one could ascertain how 
well or how poorly the present course of study in its practical work- 
ing throughout the grades is adjusted to the capacity and needs of 
the children. No records of the rate of progress through the grades, 
of the actual amount and location of acceleration, retardation, and 
elimination of pupils. 

E. Selection , promotion, improvement, and tenure of teachers. — 
28. There is need for a more satisfactory, just, and accurate method 
of determining the actual merit of teachers and for their promotion 
and retirement. (See chapter on administration.) 

29. There is need for more effective measures for the improvement 
of teachers in service, such as extension courses, systematic stimulat- 
ing supervision, leaves of absence for further professional education, 
organizations, and meetings for professional study and discussion. 
To this end the city should either maintain its own teacher's college 
or establish closer relations with the San Francisco State Normal 
School, University of California, and Leland Stanford University. 



Chapter VII. 

TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



On Tuesday, February 29, 1916, in accordance with detailed 
instructions furnished to principals and teachers, certain tests were 
given to the pupils in the San Francisco public schools in penmanship, 
spelling, reading, and arithmetic. 

Two classrooms of different grades in each of the 81 elementary 
schools were given a test in some one of the four branches, Table 113. 
The grades, classrooms, and tests were selected at random, and no 
principal or teacher knew in advance what test was to be given. 

Table 113. — Summary of schools and grades in which tests were given. 



Number 
of rooms 
tested. 



Penman- 
ship. 



Spelling. 



Reading. 



Arith- 
metic. 



Number of schools tested. 
Number of rooms tested. . 

Second grade 

Third grade 

Fourth grade 

Fifth grade 

Sixth grade 

Seventh grade 

Eighth grade 



118 
26 
20 
28 
24 
21 
24 



10 



1 In one school two tests, penmanship and spelling, were given to the same grade. 

In giving the tests the instructions to the principals were as fol- 
lows: 

The test is to be given in one room only, in each grade indicated. If your school 
has more than one room in either of these grades, select the room taught by the teacher 
whose name appears first in order alphabetically. 

If a room contains pupils of more than one year (as 4B and 5A together), the room 
is to be regarded as belonging to the higher year. If possille, select a room containing 
pupils of one year only in preference to one containing pupils of more than one year. 

The test is to be given on the morning of the first school day following the date of 
the distribution of these papers. Please arrange to have it given immediately follow- 
ing the first regular recitation or study period in the morning program. 

After the completion of the test the papers should be carefully preserved and carried 
to the principals' meeting, which will I e announced later. 

The purpose of giving these tests was to measure the achieve- 
ments of the children in the San Francisco schools in those phases 
of school work in which objective measurements are possible as a 
234 



TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



235 



means of verifying and supplementing the observations of the survey 
commission with respect to the work done in the schools. 

In the four subjects referred to, students of education have devel- 
oped standardized tests and scales for measurement, and by using 
these it is possible to make comparisons of the achievements of the 
pupils in San Francisco with those in other cities. 

It was impossible to test all of the pupils in the San Francisco 
schools, but a sufficiently large random selection of children was 
tested to make possible certain conclusions. 

It is hoped also that principals and teachers will become sufficiently 
interested in the tests, their methods and results, to wish to make 
use of them themselves in further and more complete measurement 
of the achievements of the pupils under their charge. 

RATING THE TEST PAPERS. 

The tests were given in the San Francisco schools under the general 
direction of a member of the survey commission. The papers written 
by the pupils were examined and rated, the results analyzed, and the 
reports prepared by the departments of education in the institutions 
indicated in the following table: 

Preparation of test papers. 



Test papers in — 


Report prepared by department of 
education in — 


Under direction of — 


Penmanship 

Spelling 


University of Chicago, Chicago, 111 

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 
Minn. 

University of Illinois, Urbana, 111 

Peabody College for Teachers, Nash- 
ville, Term. 


Prof. Frank N. Freeman. 
Dean L. D. Coffman 


Reading 


Prof. N. L. Garrison. 


Arithmetic 


Prof. Carter Alexander. 



In preparing the reports of the tests, individual schools are referred 
to by number. The office of the superintendent of schools' has been 
supplied with a key by which the schools may be identified. 

PENMANSHIP. 

In giving the penmanship test the instructions to the teachers 
were as follows: 

At the beginning of the period assigned for this test, the selection below is to be 
copied on the blackboard where it can be seen easily by all the children in the room. 
It may be copied in more than one place if necessary. 

See that each pupil is provided with a half sheet of the regular ruled foolscap writing 
paper. * * * Beginning on the third line, the selection is to be copied as written 
on the blackboard. Instruct the pupils to copy the stanza as carefully as they can. 



236 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FRANCISCO. 

Allow sufficient time for each child to do his (or her) best — one attempt, on one 
sheet of paper, only. Then collect the papers and deliver to the principal. 

Land of the forest and the rock, 

Of dark blue lake and mighty river, 
Of mountains reared on high to mock 
The storm's career and lightning's shock, 

My own green land forever! 

The recent surveys of handwriting have commonly included a test 
of the speed and of the form of the writing of the pupils. The test in 
the San Francisco schools was made by requiring the pupils to copy 
from certain texts. No* account was taken of the time required. 
The comparison between the writing of the San .Francisco pupils and 
those in other schools can be made, therefore, only on the basis of 
form. 

A further limitation upon the report is that complete comparisons 
can not be made between the results in different buildings, since only 
two classes were examined in each building. The comparison, then, 
will be confined chiefly to the general excellence of the form of the 
writing in San Francisco as compared with certain other cities which 
have been surveyed. 1 Table 114 presents the scores made by each 
class which was tested and the average results from all of the pupils 
of each grade. The scores of the individual classes are given as totals 
rather than as averages, in order that the general averages might not 
be affected by the variation in the number of individuals in the various 
classes. 

In order to draw a comparison these average results are presented 
in Table 115, together with the scores in form of the pupils in 55 cities, 
and also the form of the writing as determined in the surveys of 
Denver, Grand Rapids, and St. Louis. 

* L. P. Ayres: Scale for the Quality of Handwriting of School Children; Russell Sage Foundation, 
New York. 



TESTS OP THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



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238 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 115. — Comparison of form, in handwriting in San Francisco and in certain other 

cities. 



Cities. 


Second 
grade. 


Third 
grade. 


Fourth 
grade. 


Fifth 
grade. 


Sixth 

grade. 


Seventh 
grade. 


Eighth 
grade. 


San Francisco jg 

55 cities 


Per cent. 
35.9 
40.4 
35 


Per cent. 
43.4 
48.2 
39.5 
26 

34.5 
31.7 


Per cent. 
49.9 
53.2 
45.6 
31 

44.4 
36.8 


Per cent. 
64 
60.6 
50.1 
38 
51.7 
52.1 


Per cent. 
60.2 
63.9 
56.6 
43 
58.3 
57.3 


Per cent. 
52.8 
66.2 
62.3 
51 

61.4 
62.8 


Per cent. 
62.5 
66.1 
65.8 


Denver 


57 


Grand ] I apids 


29.4 
29.9 


68.4 


St. Louis 


74.2 







A comparison of the scores by grades indicates that in general, so 
far as form is concerned, the San Francisco pupils rank high. This is 
particularly true in the lower and the intermediate grades. In the 
eighth grade, while they are superior to Denver, they are about equal 
to the average of the 55 cities and slightly below Grand Rapids and 
St. Louis. 



Score 
lSc*u£) 
70 
65 
60 
5S 
50 
45 
40 
35 



Results of Penmanship Test 
Average Scores by Grades 



San Francisco Schools = 
Average for ss Cities = 




ABABABABABAbAB 
GRADE 2 3 4 5 6 7 6 



Figure 62. — As judged by the schools tested, San Francisco children make rapid progress in penmanship 
up to the fifth grade, but practically no improvement from that point on. The fact that in this and thre* 
other tests there is a marked drop in grade 7 suggests a problem for further study. 

A graphic comparison of San Francisco with 55 cities is presented 
in Figure 62. The peculiar form of progress from grade to grade is 
well brought out by this chart. The improvement is rapid up to the 
fifth grade, but there is practically no progress from that grade on. 
It may be that this peculiar type of progress is to be interpreted as 



TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 239 

indicating that there is less emphasis on speed in the lower grades and 
more in the upper grades, but this can only be a guess. 

In the other cities which have been surveyed in detail it is found 
that there is considerable variation in practice in the relative emphasis 
upon these two qualities of writing in different parts of the school. 
This is a problem for which we have not at the present time a complete 
solution, but it is highly desirable that the supervisors in a school 
system should be alive to this problem and should work out experi- 
mentally the relationship between these two qualities which seems to 
be the most desirable. 

Besides this general form in the curve, the fluctuations also deserve 
some comment. From the beginning of the fifth grade to the eighth 
there are several deviations from a regularly advancing progress 
curve. The most marked fluctuation is the drop in grade 7A. It 
would be unsafe to assume that this drop represents the practice in 
the system as a whole, for the reason that the record is based upon 
only 78 pupils, who are distributed among three schools. This fluc- 
tuation is in all probability due to the deviations among the schools 
and to the fact that low classes happened to be selected to represent 
this grade. 

In order to draw such comparison as the data furnish between 
similar classes in different schools, and by this means to throw some 
light on the matter of variations, Table 116 was prepared. Only 
those classes were chosen in which the membership is 20 or more. 
The averages at the bottom are for all the pupils who were tested. 
In order to get some measure of variation, the number of classes 
which deviate from the average for their grade by an amount equal 
to the average progress made during a school year were counted. 
This amount is 5 points. The scores of those classes which deviate 
5 points or more are italicized. Twenty-eight per cent of all the 
classes deviate by this amount from the average. Such deviations as 
these make it highly desirable that tests be made for supervisory and 
administrative purposes which shall discover the strong and the 
weak places in the school system and serve as a basis for increasing 
the efficiency of the schools or grades which are below standard. 

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS. 

The results are sufficient to indicate that so far as form alone is con- 
cerned, the writing of the pupils in San Francisco is good. Whether 
this excellence is attained at the sacrifice of speed or in company with 
the attainment of a satisfactory speed is not established by the 
results of these tests. 



240 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 116.—- Penmanship test: Comparison of the standings of classes in different 
schools which are represented by a membership of 20 pupils or more, tvith the average for 
all classes of same grade. 

Note.— Thirteen classes out of 47, or 28 per cent, deviate by five points or more from the grade average. 
The standings of such classes are italicized. 



Grade. 



2A 



2B 



3A 



3B, 



School. 



22. 



Average . 



Average . . 



Average . . 



Average . . . 



Average . . 



Stand- 
ing. 



35.9 



40.4 

48 

43.4 



4S.2 



49. 9 



Grade. 



4B. 



5A 



5B, 



6A. 



School. 


Stand- 
ing. 


7 


64 
55 
58 
52 
45 

47 


3 


15 


13 


9 


16 




Average . . . 


53.2 


[2...... 


70 
57 


ii." :. 




Average . . . 


64 


3 


64 
62 
05 
05 
57 
60 


22 


1 .. 


18.. 


11 


8 




Average . . . 


60.6 


fl2 


69 
60 


i 9 ;:: 




Average . . . 


60.2 



Grade. 



GB. 



7A . 



7B 



8A 



SB 



School. 



Average... 



Average... 



Average . 



Average . 



Average . . 



Stand- 
ing. 



63.9 
48 
52. # 
"06~" 
60. 



GO. 



The particular type of progress in form needs to be studied, anc 1 
since it deviates considerably from the practice represented in othei 
cities it should be viewed rather critically. Deviations from one 
school to another are shown to exist, while they can not be analyzed 
completely. These also require careful study. 

SPELLING. 

In giving the spelling test the instructions to the teacher included 
the following: 

Pronounce the words in the enclosed list, allowing sufficient time for the pupils to 
write each one in order. Each word should be pronounced at least twice; the word 
may be used in a sentence, if desired, and any explanation given that may be neces- 
sary for its proper understanding by the pupils. 

After the completion of the test, please go over the papers, place a check mark after 
each misspelled word, and mark the number of words spelled correctly. Use a blue 
pencil or red ink. 

The words used in the test were taken at random from the Ayres' 
List B of "One Thousand Commonest Words." 1 The words for 



L. P. Ayres: A Measuring Scale for Ability in Spelling; Russell Sage Foundation, New York. 



TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



241 



each grade represent words which have been spelled correctly by 73 
per cent of the children in that grade in tests conducted in numerous 
cities. The following are the word lists used: 



k 



Second grade. 


Third grade. 




Fourth grade. 


Fifth grade. 


1. nine 


1. 


catch 




1. eight 


1. sometimes 


2. got 


2. 


able 




2. aboard 


2. period 


3. spring 


3. 


fell 




3. restrain 


3. firm 


4. stone 


4. 


soap 




4. population 


4. crowd 


5. fall 


5. 


express 




5. figure 


5. relative 


6. put 


6. 


table 




6. everything 


6. serve 


7. Mondav 


7. 


road 




7. farther 


7. due 


8. take 


8. 


power 




8. knew 


8. ledge 


9. its 


9. 


another 




9. fact 


9. information 


10. sold 


10. 


church 




10. public 


10. present 


Sixth grade. 






Seventh grade. 


Eighth grade. 


1. often 






1. 


meant 


1. organization 


2. total m 






2. 


distinguish 


2. emergency 


3 examination 






3. 


assure 


3. appreciate 


4. marriage 






4. 


probably 


4. sincerely 


5. opinion 






5. 


responsible 
difficulty 


5. athletic 


6. witness 






6. 


6. extreme 


7. theater 






7. 


develop 


7. practical 


8. supply 






8. 


material 


8. proceed 


9. course 






9. 


senate 


9. cordially 


10. doubt 






10. 


agreement 


10. character 



All papers have been carefully rechecked, and a few papers have 
>een discarded, where an irregularity was apparent; as in the case 
)f four papers in the 7A grade from one school, where the words from 
lie sixth grade list had been spelled. 

In the computations, no recognition has been taken of divisions 
)f a grade, as 4B and 4A; e. g., all papers from a fourth-grade room 
lave been regarded as fourth grade, whether 4 A, 4B, or both. 

In Table 117 the results of the test are shown in the average num- 

Der of words spelled correctly for each school and each grade. The 

iverage standing of all the pupils tested in any school is given at the 

jfoot of the column for that school. The average standing of all the 

pupils tested in any grade is given in the right-hand column. 

93S15— 17 1G 



242 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 117. — Results of spelling test: Per cent of words spelled correctly; averages by 

schools and grades. 



SCHOOLS, BY NUMBER. 





1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


Grade 2.. 




76.0 


87.0 






80.0 




73.0 




Grade 3 




42.2 


93.5 




Grade 4 




78.6 


79.1 


94.9 




65.7 


78.9 


Grade 5 




66.9 


92.2 




Grade 6 


86.4 








84.1 




88.7 


Grade 7 














Grade 8 


85.6 












72.3 
























Average 


86.04 


77.30 


83.16 


56.42 


92.91 


88.17 


78.38 


69.27 


82.21 








10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


17 


18 


19 


Grade 2 












57.0 

83.04 


68.5 
96.05 






83.0 


Grade 3 


82.8 


71.8 








78.3 
93.8 






Grade 4 










87.2 


Grade 5 


91.7 


76.2 


73.9 




91.0 
84.4 









Grade 6 


:::::::: 






83.3 




Grade 7 






77.1 


77.6 
85.3 










Grade 8 













86.8- 




















Average 


88.09 


74.13 


76.68 


81.4 


88.88 


70.77 


85.52 


86.16 


84.85 


84.92 




20 


21 


22 


23 


24 


25 


26 


27 


28 


Aver- 
age. 


Grade 2 








41.0 

85.7 












72.0 


Grade 3 




92.0 
75.8 


85.4 








84.7 




75.14 


Grade 4 






75.8 
75.5 




81.4 


Grade 5 




83.3 






" "82*7" " 
80.0 


72.4 


""90." 7*" 


80.5 


Grade 6 


78.0 
61.0 








85.4 


Grade 7 








84.8 
93.8 




77.2 


Grade 8 










88.7 


84.3 




















Average 


66.67 


80.06 


84.39 


49.23 


89.15 


75.65 


81.50 


78.45 


89.74 


79.36 



From this table it appears that the second-grade classes tested 
ranged from 41 to 87 per cent of words spelled correctly, and averaged 
72. The third grade ranged from 42.2 to 96.05 per cent, averaging 
75.14, and so on. These facts for each grade tested are shown in 
Figure 63, together with the average for the schools tested by Ayres, 
73 per cent. 

The average standing of the fifth grades is 0.9 per cent lower 
than that of the fourth grades. The average of the seventh grades 
is 8.2 per cent lower than that of the sixth grades, 3.3 per cent lower 
than that of the fifth grades, and 4.2 per cent lower than that of the 
fourth grades. 

In Table 118 the results of the test are shown, in the average 
number of words spelled correctly for each school and each grade 
boys and girls separately. 



TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



243 



Results of Spelling Tests 
Percentages of Words Spelled Correctly 
By Grades 

Percent 



10 




l-TS- AVE FOR 
SCHOOLS IN 
AYRES list 



2 3 



5 6 7 8 Grades 



Figure 63.— On one vertical line for each grade is shown the amount of variation from the average to the 
lowest and highest scores in spelling. In every grade except the second the average score is above the 
standard, 73. Following the high average of the sixth grade, the drop in the seventh i"s particularly 
noticeable. 



244 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 118.— Results of spelling test: Per cent of words spelled correctly; averages by 
schools and grades — boys and girls separately. 



SCHOOLS, BY NUMBERS. 





1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


Grades. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. ! Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Grade 2 






75.0 


80.0 


88.5 


85.9 










80.8 


80.0 


Grade 3 


48.0 


37.0 


92.0 


96.0 




Grade 4 






75.0 


SO. 9 


72.8 


85 .9 


93.7 


96.2 


Grade 5... . 








53.3 


75.4 


89.3 


94.7 




Grade 6.. 


85.0 


88.3 












Grade 7 




















Grade 8 


82.85 


87.5 






































Average... 


84.20 


87.88 


75.00 


80.65 


81.00 85.90 


50.48 


05. 40 


90.92 


95.33 


87.49 


89.09 





7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


Grades. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Grade 2 






67.5 


77.5 


i 














Grade 3 . . 








81.5 


86.6 


61.0 


84.0 






Grade 4 








65.7 


82.1 


75.6 








Grades 








88.0 


95.5 


74.8 


79.1 


70.8 


78.2 


Grade 6 


80.0 


87.8 






82.3 


96.4 




Grade 7 














79.5 


79.1 


Grade 8 


67.6 


77.39 










































Average... 


73.65 


82.59 


67.50 


69.74 


82.17 


82.33 


84.83 


92.78 


69.41 


81.97 


74.75 


78.55 





13 


14 


15 


16 


17 


18 


Grades. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


G rad e 2 














60.0 
70.0 


71.0 
68.4 










Grade 3 










£3.0 


81.0 


79.5 
93.3 


83.0 
94.2 






Grade 4 














Grade 5 






88.4 
85.4 


93.6 
82.9 














Grade 6 


















82.1 


86.0 


Grade 7 


76.5 


76.5 
85. 33 
















Grade 8 










| 






86.82 


86.87 














i 








Average.. . 


76.50 


82.52 


87.30 


90.72 


83.00 


81.00 


67.27 


69.53 


86.03 


89.80 


82.17 


86.70 





19 


20 


21 


22 


23 


24 


Grades. 


Boys. 1 Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Grade 2.. 


82.0 84.5 














50.0 
84.0 


32.0 
90.0 






Grade 3 






100.0 


86.6 
86.6 


84.0 


87.0 






Grade 4 


81.5 90.0 






66.0 

























Grade 6... 




66.6 
50.0 


82.5 






85.6 


94.7 










Grade 7 


i 










77.8 
90.9 


82.5 


Grade 8 


















95. 55 






















Average. . . 


81.83 ! 87.82 


54.98 


82.50 


76.00 


86.38 


84.41 


91.42 


58.09 


38.88 


82.60 


90. 33 





25 


26 


27 


28 


Average. 


Grades. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Grade 2 


















75.0 
79.0 
81.1 
74.4 

82.8 
76.0 
82.5 


74.0 


Grade 3 










86.0 


83.0 






80.0 


Grade 4 


71.8 
73.3 


80.0 
76.6 










81.7 


Grade 5 . . 






71.3 


74.4 






84.0 


Grade 6 


78.0 
82.2 


86.1 
79.4 


90.6 


90.8 


88.3 


Grade 7 










80.2 


Grade 8 










91.53 


87.2 


86.12 

















Average 


72.40 


78.05 79.57 


£3.00 


78.39 


78.70 


91.00 


89.37 


78. 497 


82. 598 



TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 245 

From this table it appears that 13 groups of boys and 5 groups of 
girls fall below the standard average, 73 per cent, set by the Ayres 
investigation. 

In 11 of the 24 schools tested the difference between the average 
for boys and that for girls is 6 per cent or more (in four cases, 12.5 
per cent or more). In only 2 of the 24 schools is the average standing 
of the girls lower than that of the boys. 

Summary of conclusions. — The results are sufficient to indicate 
that the city as a whole ranks considerably above the standard 
average for a large number of cities investigated by Ayres. 

Of 24 schools tested, 5 average below 73 per cent. All the others 
are well above that mark, with an average for the entire number of 
schools of 79.36, which is 6.36 per cent above the standard for the 
lists of words used. 

The fact that the girls seem to spell uniformly better than the 
boys should suggest to principals and teachers certain possible 
modifications in emphasis and methods of instruction. 

Further tests should be made in all the schools of the city to deter- 
mine the causes of the wide variations in the achievements of the 
pupils, and especially the reasons for the relatively inferior stand- 
ing of the seventh grades. 

READING. 

In giving the reading test the teacher was furnished a quantity 
of forms published in the series entitled : " Scale Alpha 2, for Measuring 
the Understanding of Sentences," by Prof. E. L. Thorndike. 1 Sets 
I and II were used in grade 3. Sets III and IV were used in grade 4 
and grade 5. Sets IV and V were used in grade 6, grade 7, and 
grade 8. 

The following extracts will indicate the character of the tests: 

SET I. 
Read this and then write the questions. Read it again if you need to. . 

John had two brothers who were both tall. Their names were Will and 
Fred. John's sister, who was short, was named Mary. John liked Fred 
better than either of the others. All of these children except Will had red 
hair. He had brown hair. 

1. Was John's sister tall or short? 

2. How many brothers had John? ' 

3. What was his sister's name? 

1 E. L. Thorndike: An Improved Scale for Measuring Ability in Reading; Teachers College Record, 
Nov., 1915, Jan., 1916, Columbia University, New York. 



246 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FKANCISCO. 



SET IV. 
Read this and then write the answers to 1, 2, S and 4. Read it again if you need to. 

You need a coal range in winter for kitchen warmth and for continuous hot- 
water supply, but in summer when you want a cool kitchen and less hot water, 
a gas range is better. The x-y-z ovens are safe. In the end ovens there is an 
extra set of burners for broiling. 

1. What effect has the use of a gas range instead of a coal range upon the tem- 

perature of the kitchen? , 

2. For what purpose is the extra set of burners? 

3. In what part of the stove are they situated? 

4. During what season of the year is a gas range preferable? 

The instructions to the teacher included the following: 

Instruct the pupils to "follow the directions as printed on the sheets." Give 
no other instructions or assistance. Allow sufficient time for each pupil to 
do his best, but not more than 40 minutes in any case. Then collect the papers 
and deliver to the principal. 

The ability in reading recorded for each grade from tho various 
schools was determined by the results from the set which most 
nearly measured the grade or by the average from both sets where 
each test seemed about equally valid in testing the grade. Scoring 
and grading were made according to the regulations given in Teachers 
College Record, November, 1915. The figures in the tabulations 
given below represent the difficulty in reading which the pupils of 
the grade can handle, based on the assumption that the standard 
difficulty for average pupils in these grades is as follows, determined 
by Thorndike: 

Grade IV V VI VII VIII 

Standard 5.25 5.75 6.50 7.00 7.50 

A summary of the results of the tests is given in Table 119. 
Table 119. — Results of reading tests: Average standings by schools and grades. 



Schools. 






Grades. 






Ill 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


No. 1 


Per ct. 
4.25 
5.16 
5.25 
4.34 


Perct. 


Per ct. 
7.70 


Perct. 


Ter ct. 


Perct. 


Mo. 2 


6.96 






Mo. 3 






6.21 




No. 4 








7. 60 


No. 5 


5.51 








8.40 


No. 6 








8.08 




No. 7 


4.85 


*"5."59" 


6.fi2 
6 04 
6.70 






No. 8 - 


6.14 






No.9 


(') 














Nine schools 2 


4.90 


5.56 


6.59 


6. 53 


7.38 


7.83 







1 Sets I and IT did not prove a test for the grade. 

» Tho figures reported here as representative ability for each grade, all nine schools taken as a unit, were 
•calculated from original data and do not represent averages from individual schools. 



TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OE PUPILS. 247 

In view of the fact that only two tests each for grades four, six, 
seven, and eight are available to represent work for all schools of the 
system in these grades, and that the results in the entire 18 rooms 
tested show such striking and extreme variations, the investigator 
does not feel justified in reporting the "nine schools" record (see 
Table 119) as the San Francisco standard. For this reason compari- 
son of this standard with the Thorndiko standard would be misleading 
in determining the quality of work for the system as a whole. How- 
ever, a study. of these summary "nine schools" records would demand 
a further testing to explain the exceptional record of the fifth grade, 
and to find out if the true San Francisco standard were also superior 
to the Thorndike standard at each point. 

Although the tests reported for the individual schools are too 
limited to justify specific conclusions concerning the work being done 
in each, the data as secured arc herewith reported in a comparative 
manner to make them as suggestive as possible in the hope that a 
complete investigation of the problems involved may be encouraged 
thereby. 

The variation among schools and among grades within a single 
school suggests that the teaching of reading in the San Francisco 
schools presents a serious situation. The third grade in one school 
is unable to handle Set II, because it is too difficult, while in another 
school it is no test for the third grade, being too easy. In School 
No. 1 the children in the third grade made lower records than any 
other school, being represented by difficulty 4.25; in the fifth grade 
of the same school the pupils did work of difficulty 7.70, which 
is better than the standard for the eighth grade set by Thorndike. 
This means that in two years the pupils make about twice the 
normal advancement for such years. Sufficient data might justify 
such a variation. On tho other hand, School No. 3 makes the 
highest record of all third grades tested, reaching the standard for the 
normal fourth ; in the seventh grade of this school the record is less 
than the standard for the normal sixth grado. This means that the 
pupils in this school have made relatively little progress in reading 
from tho third to the seventh grade; hardly two years' progress in 
four years, or one-half the normal advancement. 

This variability among the grades is graphically represented by 
figure 64. By comparing tho maximum and minimum records 
for each grade, this variation is seen to be greatest for the fifth and 
seventh grades and indicates that the pupils as a unit in one school 
arc three years ahead of those of another in reading ability, yet they 
are in the same grade. 

An interesting and significant comparison in this respect is that 
between pupils in different schools, but in the same grade, at the same 



248 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



stage of progress in the system. This is shown in figure 65, where five 
schools are compared on the basis of records made by grade three in 
each school, on the same tests. Here it is evident that there is 

as much difference between the 
extremes as between the stand- 
ards for the sixth and eighth 
grades. That is, some rooms of 
the third grade are two years in 
advance of other rooms of the 
same grade in reading ability. 

The results from Set IV give 
another striking example of vary- 
ing standards, as this test was given 
in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, 
and eighth grades. Since each 
grade was dealing with the. same 
test, we should expect a rather 
uniformly increasing record from 
the fourth to the eighth grade in 
all schools. Reference to Table 
120 and figure 65 discloses the 
irregularities. The fifth-grade rec- 
ords of Schools Nos. 7 and 1 rank 
about equal to that of the eighth 
grades in Schools Nos. 4 and 5. 
An average pupil from the seventh 
grade of School No. 3 could be 
placed in the fifth grade of Schools 
Nos. 1, 7, 8, or 9 and be well classi- 
fied in reading; if he were trans- 
ferred to School No. 6 and con- 
tinued work in the same grade, 
the seventh, he would be working with pupils whose reading ability 
is at least two years in advance of his. 

Table 120. — Comparison of schools by grades on same test, Set IV. 






Results of Reading Test 


Average Scores, 9 Schools 


By Grades 


scores 

(TH. SCALE) 




9 














8 

7 
6 












HIGHEST 






ks 




if 


AVERAGE 
LOWEST 




y^c 


lis 


H 














5 
4 


\>v/ 


































3 
2 




















— 







\ A 


^ 


> 6 


> 


t 


5 GRADES 

1 



Figure 64.— On one vertical line for each grade 
is shown the amount of variation from the average 
to the lowest and highest scores in reading. In 
some of these cases the scores were obtained by- 
averaging the results of tests with two sets of 
questions, and, hence, differ somewhat from the 
scores shown in figure 05. 



Schools. 


Grades. 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


1.. 




7.70 








2 




0.95 






3 „ 






0.21 




4 








7. 05 


5 


5.90 








7.88 


G , 






7.48 




7 




0.90 
0.23 






8 


5.74 


0. 14 












tight schools 


5.89 


0.05 


0. 53 


7.11 


7.40 










TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



249 



In any school system one would expect individual pupils to overlap 
grades to a great extent, and beyond a certain point it is impossible 
and undesirable to secure uniform progress in all schools in the same 
grades; but when the variations in achievement of pupils for the 
grade as a whole involve the overlapping of three or four grades, the 
schools of the system are not giving their pupils the equality of 



^ Results of Reading Test 

Comparison of Schools 

oj o By Grades 

9 o 








1 [11- 








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6.90 


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CORES 



Figure 05.— The scores in the reading test made by the various grades in different schools are arranged in 
groups for comparison. Although grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 were all tested on the same set of questions, Set IV, 
one fifth grade made an average score (7.70) higher than any sixth or seventh grade, and higher than tho 
average of tho two eighth grades tested (7.40). 

opportunity or tho uniformity of training in reading which might 
reasonably be demanded of them. 

Conclusions. — These facts indicato that tho most significant prob- 
lems in instruction in reading confronting the San Francisco public 
schools are: 

1. The standardization of the work in reading for the system as a 
whole, so that the achievements of pupils in each grade will represent 



250 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

a rather definite ability, and ability which is reasonably graduated 
from year to year. 

2. Reasonable uniformity in progress for the individual schools, 
since the variation in reading ability for the same grades in different 
schools and for different grades in the same school seems so great as 
to present a serious problem in transferring and promoting pupils. 

It is recommended therefore that reading tests be conducted on a 
much larger scale to determine the standard for the system which 
should characterize the reading ability in each grade. Tho results 
of tests throughout individual schools would enable the respective 
principals to locate irregularities and to make the adjustments which 
would produce proper graduation of work in the several schools and 
restore reasonable conformity to tho standards in reading for the 
system as a whole. By such means the solution to these problems 
can be definitely and correctly determined. 

AKITHMETIC. 

In giving the arithmetic test the teacher was furnished a quantity 
of forms published in the '• Courtis Standard Research Tests" series, 1 
entitled "Arithmetic, B." 

THE COURTIS TEST. • 

Identically the same test was given in grades five, six, seven, and 
eight. The following extracts will indicate the character of the tests. 

Preceding each part of the test were printed instructions similar to 
tho following : 

You will be given eight minutes to find the answers to as many of these addition 
examples as possible. Write the answers on this paper directly underneath the 
examples. You arc not expected to be able to do them all. You will be marked for 
both speed and accuracy, but it is more important to have your answers right than to 
try a great many examples. 

The test in addition consisted of 24 examples in adding three-place 
numbers. Each example contained nine numbers to be added. The 
time allowed for this part of the test was eight minutes. 

The test in subtraction consisted of 24 examples in subtraction of 
eight-place numbers. The time allowed was four minutes. 

The test in multiplication consisted of 25 examples in multiplying 
a four-place number by a two-place number. The time allowed was 
six minutes. 

The test in division consisted of 24 examples in dividing a four or 
five place number by a two-place number. The time allowed was 
eight minutes. 

i S. A. Courtis: Standard Tests; 82 Eliot St., Detroit, Mich. 



TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 251 

One example selected from each test is given below: 

Addition. Subtraction. Multiplication. Division. 



927 107795491 8246 25 ) 6775 

379 77197029 29 

756 

837 
924 
110 
854 
965 
344 

Each pupil was given a small eight-page pamphlet containing the 
examples to be worked, so arranged as to provide spaces for the 
answers and necessary figuring, and detailed instructions. 

THE STONE TEST. 

In addition to the foregoing tests in the four fundamental opera- 
tions, a fifth test was given, using a set of problems involving reason- 
ing. The time allowed wa3 15 minutes. The problems used for 
this purpose are given below. 

In parentheses following each problem is stated the amount of 
credit given to each in scoring the answers. By "credit" is meant 
a certain weight assigned to each problem according to its degree 
of difficulty as determined by the number of children failing on it 
in Stone's investigations. 1 

PROBLEMS IN ARITHMETIC. 

1. If you buy 2 tablets at 7 cents each and a book for 65 cents, how much change 
should you receive from a two-dollar bill? (1) 

2. John sold 4 Saturday Evening Posts at 5 cents each. He kept * the money and 
with the other \ he bought Sunday papers at 2 cents each. How many did he buy? 

(1) 

3. If James had 4 times as much money as George, he would have $16. How much 
has George? (1) 

4. How many pencils can you buy for 50 cents at the rate of 2 for 5 cents? (1) 

5. The uniforms for a baseball nine cost $2.50 each. The shoes cost $2 a pair. 
What was the total cost of uniforms and shoes for the nine? (1) 

6. In the schools of a certain city there are 2,200 pupils; \ are in the primary grades, 
\ in the grammar grades, \ in the high school, and the rest in the night school. How 
many pupils are there in the night school? (1.4) 

7. If 3£ tons of coal cost $21, what will 5£ cost? (1.2) 

8. A newsdealer bought some magazines for $1. He sold them for $1.20, gaining 
5 cents on each magazine. How many magazines were there? (l.G) 

9. A girl spent \ of her money for car fare, and three times as much for clothes. 
Half of what she had left was 80 cents. How much money did she have at first? (2) 

10. Two girls receive $2.10 for making buttonholes. One makes 42, the other 28. 
How shall they divide the money? (2) 

i C. W. Stone: Arithmetical Abilities and Some Factors Determining Them; Teachers College, Columbia 
University, 1908. 



252 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 

11. Mr. Brown paid one-third of the cost of a building; Mr. Johnson paid one-half 
the cost. Mr. Johnson received $500 more annual rent than Mr. Brown. How much 
did each receive? (2). 

12. A freight train left Albany for New York at G o'clock. An express left on the 
same track at 8 o'clock. It went at the rate of 40 miles an hour. At what time of 
day will it overtake the freight train if the freight train stops after it has gone 56 miles? 
(2) 

The instructions to the teacher included the following: 

Follow the " Instructions to Examiners," as given in the printed folder, beginning 
on page 2, and ending with paragraph 13, on page 7. Omit paragraph 12, and para- 
graphs 14 to 19, inclusive. Allow a brief resting space after each test. 

SUMMARY. 

1. Findings. — The results indicate that, in general, the San Fran- 
cisco children made an unusually good showing in speed, except in 
the reasoning problems. This statement is based upon comparison 
of their achievements in these tests with standards in speed that 
have been worked out by experts, and with the records of similar 
tests in other cities. 

In accuracy, with similar comparisons, the San Francisco children 
did not do so well. The results for accuracy in the various grades 
are too low. They do not show the usual increases in accuracy 
with progress through the grades. 

San Francisco children did not use all the four fundamental 
operations equally well. They did very well in subtraction, fairly 
well in addition, but not so well in multiplication and division. 

The children did not reason fast or well iD the reasoning tests. 

The increase in ability in the various tests was not uniform. The 
seventh grade is below the sixth in practically everything. 

Many children were found in the eighth grade with no more ability 
to solve problems than the upper half of the children in the fifth 
grade showed. 

The tendency of the children in the grades to vary in their ability 
to. solve problems increased as the grades advance. 

There was wide variation in the showings of different schools. 

In all arithmetic work too much time and emphasis have appar- 
ently been placed on speed rather than accuracy. 

2. Recommendations. — More emphasis should be placed on accuracy 
in all phases of arithmetic work. 

There should be an extended study to find why the seventh grade 
drops in everything. 

There should be a study of individual schools to find out why 
certain schools so far outstrip others. 

There should be a study of individual pupils to see if some may 
not be excused from arithmetic, or from drill at least; whereas cer- 
tain others probably ought not to be promoted in the subject. 



TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



253 



More emphasis is needed on certain fundamental operations. 

Much more emphasis should be placed on reasoning work. 

These are general statements. There are many exceptions to be 
found in the individual grades, which will be pointed out later in this 
report. 

THE NATURE OF THE TESTS USED. 
1. THE COURTIS TESTS. 

These tests aim at finding out such things as whether or not the 
child or class has learned: (1) Fundamental operations, (2) column 
adding, (3) carrying, (4) working at the proper speed, (5) working 
with sufficient accuracy, etc. 

In this series of tests Dr. Courtis, by testing thousands of children 
in the grades all over the country, has worked out a standard which 
each grade should attain in both speed and accuracy in a certain 
number of minutes. 

The standards of the test are that each pupil of the grade shall 
solve correctly within Che given time a number of problems, as follows: 



Grade. 


Addi- 
tion. 


Subtrac- 
tion. 


Multipli- 
cation. 


Division. 


V 


7 
9 
11 
12 


8 
10 
11 
12 


7 
9 
10 
11 


6 


VI 


8 


VII , , 


10 


vni 


11 







Only problems correctly solved arc counted. 

The time given to addition was eight minutes, to subtraction four 
minutes, to multiplication six minutes, to division eight minutes. 
These standards may be used as follows: s 

1. To make comparisons of : (a) The work of this and other school 
systems; (b) the work of individual teachers within a system. 

2. To define an aim in arithmetic work for the fundamental oper- 
ations. For example, eighth-grade pupils should be drilled in addi- 
tion until they can add correctly in eight minutes 12 examples, each 
example three columns wide and nine figures long. Similar aims or 
standards are set up for each grade in each operation. 

3. To set a limit of training or drill; as, as soon as an eighth-grade 
pupil reaches the above standard, he should be excused from further 
drill or practice in addition. The same principle applies to other 
grades and operations. 

4. To specialize training; as, the pupil that is up to standard in 
addition but below in subtraction should be given increased drill in 
subtraction. 

1 Manual of Instruction, Courtis Standard Tests, p. 74 (language adapted to context). 



254 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



5. To diagnose and remedy individual defects; as, if the child's 
scores do not rise with the class practice, he should be studied indi- 
vidually, his symptoms observed, his difficulties discovered, and the 
proper adjustments of his work made. 



2. THE STONE TESTS. 



For testing the ability of the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade 
pupils to reason accurately in the solution of simple arithmetical 
problems, the Stone reasoning tests were used. These tests were 
worked out by Dr. C. W. Stone some years ago primarily for sixth- 
grade children, but they have been successfully used in various places 
for testing all grades from the fifth to the eighth, inclusive. 

These problems aim to embody the following conditions : 

1. Items equally familiar to all children. 

2. Difficulties increasing gradually — 

(a) As to arithmetical thinking. 

(b) As to familiarity with the situation presented. 

3. The omission of — (a) Large numbers; (b) particular memory 
requirement (as of tables, terms, etc.); (c) catch problems; (d) all 
textbook material except whole numbers, fractions, and United States 
money. 1 

Table 121. — Distribution table for attempts on Courtis tests. 

ADDITION (TIME 8 MINUTES) ATTEMPTS. 



Grades. 



VIII. 
VII.. 
VI.. 
V... 



Total 
papers. 



Number of examples worked. 



219. 
276. 
269., 
297,., 



210 

I 



1 3 

10 13 

7| 8 
24 32 



3-3 



19 21 

38 31 

40 42 

54 25 



10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1718 19 20 2122 23 24 



15 10 
10 14 

171 10 

41 3 



13 7 5 
8 12 
10 5 4 

Vi 2 



Median 
score. 



i Stone, C W. "Arithmetical Abilities and Some Factors Determining Them." 



11.98 
9.77 

10.33 
8.21 



SUBTRACTION (TIME 4 MINUTES) ATTEMPTS. 


VIII 

VII 


219 
275 

269 


"i 


1 


"i 


fi 


1 

"*2 

12 


1 

*ii 

10 


1 
3 
15 


3 
9 
19 


11 
15 

24 

33 


11 
26 

33 
35 


20 
29 
28 
33 


26 
35 

IS 
25 


14 
34 
28 
14 


23 
29 
22 
21 


14 

24 
20 
10 


18 
11 
10 

7 


12 8 
1814 

13 8 

V 


11 

8 
3 


2 
6 
4 


19 
7 
5 
1 


9 
1 
3 
2 


1 
1 
2 


2 
1 


12 
3 

7 


13.93 
12.57 


VI 


11.40 


V 


294.. 

| 


25 43 


9.18 








MULTIPLICATION (TIME 6 MINUTES) ATTEMPTS. 


VIII 

VII 


219 
276 
269 
294 


i 


..1*2 
1 3 


2 

1 

14 


2 
4 


8 10 
lfi 31 


15 

42 

45 
53 


21 35 
34 46 
38 45 
31 24 


34 
34 

27 
13 


32 
32 

20 
9 


17 
18 
17 


13 

7 
13 
3 


11 8 
4 2 


2 

1 
1 


4 


2 


1 
1 


.! 


•' 


•• 


•• 


•• 


10.54 
9.15 


VI 


9 20, 26 
20 00, 61 


4 
2 


1 


8.83 


V 


6.80 




1 






1 




DD7ISI0N (TIME 8 MINUTES) ATTEMPTS. 


VIII 

VII 


218 
276 
2K9 
297 


1 
1 


1 
"i 


•if J 

3 8 
41 46 


6 
21 


19 20 10 311 29 
27 30 4fi 45 31 


12 

21 
21 

7 


15 
17 
li 
3 


29 
16 

13 


14 
7 
4 
2 


11 

2 
3 
1 


9 

1 

2 
3 


3 
2 
2 


3 


2 


"i 


l 




•• 


'■'■ 




9.62 
8.15 


VI 


18 33! 47 35 40 27 

45 Sfi 47 It! 21 R 


7.67 


V 


4 23 


4.70 

































TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 255 



FINDINGS ON THE COURTIS TESTS. 



(1) Attempts. — (a) Absolute figures. — Table 121, which should be 
largely self-explanatory, shows the distribution of children with 
respect to the number of examples attempted in the Courtis tests. 
By the term " attempts" is meant the number of examples solved 
through to an answer, whether correctly solved or not. Partially 
solved examples are not counted. The table is read as follows: In 
the eighth grade addition, one child attempted to a finish three prob- 
lems; one child, four problems; three children, five problems, etc. 

This table gives us the basis for finding the median score for 
attempts for each grade for each operation (last column on right). 
The median is the place or point in a series such that the same num- 
ber of cases fall above the point as below it. To illustrate, in a 
spelling class of 21 pupils ranked according to ability the eleventh 
pupil is the median pupil, throwing 10 children above and 10 below 
the median. From the top figure in the right-hand column we see 
that in the Courtis test for addition, Grade VIII, the median num- 
ber of problems attempted is 11.98. This means that 109 pupils out 
of 219 tried more than 11.98 problems, and that 109 pupils from the 
same 219 pupils tried less than 11.98 problems. The fractional 
number of problems is given because all the pupils solving 11 prob- 
lems are assumed to range in real ability from barely 11 up to just 
short of 12. The median thus comes close enough to 12 to be called 
11.98. 

(b) Comparisons by per cents inside San Francisco. — The preced- 
ing has dealt only with the absolute number of children making each 
score on attempts. As the numbers in the different grades are not 
the same, these numbers have been turned into percentages in 
Table 122, which shows the distribution of children with respect to 
the per cent in each grade making each score, the median score, and 
the per cent of variability. 1 

Explanation: Five-tenths of 1 per cent of the 219 children in 
Grade VIII made a score of 3. This means that five-tenths of 1 per 
cent of the 219 children attempted and solved through to an answer 
three examples; it does not mean that the three examples were solved 
correctly. 

i See p. 264. 



256 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



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TESTS OP THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



257 



(c) Comparison with other cities. — These showings for San Fran- 
cisco, however, mean very little until they are compared with the 
results of such tests in other cities. Accordingly, Table 123 is ap- 
pended, making such comparisons. 

Comparison by grades of the median attempts in the fundamental 
processes, according to the Courtis tests, series B, of the schools of 
San Francisco with the cities of Boston (May, 1915), Detroit, Salt 
Lake t City, 20 Indiana cities, a group of other smaller cities, the Iowa 
cities, and Kansas City. All tests were made in 1915, except those 
of San Francisco, which were made in 1916. The figures aro taken 
from Bulletin No. 1 of the Bureau of Research and Efficiency of Kan- 
sas City, page 30. 

Table 123. — Showing comparative standings, by per cents, of the San Francisco schools 
with other systems in problems attempted (Courtis tests). 



Cities. 


Addition. 


Multiplication. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 




9.4 
8.4 
6.9 
6.G 
8.2 
8.2 
6.3 
5.9 


11.0 
9.6 
7.9 
7.4 

10.3 
8.8 
8.4 
7.fi 


12.0 
10.3 
9.1 
8.1 
9.8 
9.5 
9.2 
8.3 


13.4 
12.0 
9.9 
9.0 
12.0 
10.4 
10.2 
S.7 


7.5 
7.4 
6.6 
6.3 
6.8 
7.6 
6.2 
5.3 


9.2 
8.9 

7.7 
7.6 
7.8 
8.8 
7.9 
6.9 


10.3 
9.5 

8.5 
8.6 
9.2 
10.4 
9.0 
8.3 


11.4 




11.5 


Salt Lake City 


10.8 




10.2 


SAN FRANCISCO 


10.5 




11.6 


Other cities l 


10.7 




9.7 






• 
Cities. 


Subtraction. 


Division. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Boston 


9.3 
9.4 
7.5 
7.3 
9.2 
9.0 
7.8 
6.2 


11.0 
10.1 
8.5 
8.9 
11.4 
9.9 
9.2 
7.6 


12.0 
11.2 
10.1 
10.2 
12.6 
11.1 
10.7 
9.5 


13.3 
13.6 
11.8 
11.2 
13.9 
12.8 
12.3 
10.4 


6.3 
5.7 
4.4 
4.5 
4.8 
6.6 
5.4 
3.8 


8.6 
8.5 
6.7 
5.7 
6.7 
7.6 
7.1 
5.4 


10.0 
9.4 
8.7 
8.5 
8.2 
9.1 
8.1 
8.5 


12.0 


Detroit 


12.1 


Sal t Lake City 


10.3 




10.6 


SAN FRANCISCO 


9.6 




11.9 




10.6 


Kansas City 2 


10.6 







1 A group of smaller cities tested by Courtis and called "Other cities." 

8 Kansas City has only seven grades in the elementary school. Tho fourth grade is compared with the 
fifth of the other cities, tho fifth with the sixth, etc. 

It will be observed that in addition the fifth grade in San Francisco 
is exceeded tonly by Boston and Detroit, by Boston in the sixth, by 
Boston and Detroit in the seventh, by Boston in the eighth. In 
subtraction San Francisco excells all other cities compared, except 
Detroit, which exceeds it by only two-tenths of 1 percent in the fifth 
grade. In multiplication San Francisco does not show up so well, 
being exceeded in median attempts by Boston, Detroit, and tho Iowa 
cities in the fifth grade; by Boston, Detroit, and "Other cities" in 
tho sixth and seventh; by Boston, Detroit, Salt Lake City, the Iowa 
cities, and the " Other cities " in the eighth. In division it is exceeded 
by Boston, Detroit, the Iowa cities, and the "Other cities" in the 
93815—17- — 17 



258 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FRANCISCO. 



fifth and sixth; by all, except "Other cities," in the seventh; by all 
in the eighth. 

It should bo noted in passing that the high showing of Boston and 
Detroit may be duo to the fact that children there have had more 
testing and drill on the Courtis tests than those in other cities. The 
Courtis tests were first worked out by Dr. Courtis in Detroit. They 
have been given a number of times in Boston and Dr. Courtis was at 
ono time connected with such testing work in that city. This makes 
San Francisco's showing in speed all the more creditable 

This comparison indicates that there has been more time given to 
drill and practice in addition and subtraction than in multiplication 
and division. It could be conjectured that speed 1 had been sacri- 
ficed to accuracy, but an examination of the table for accuracy' 
shows that the grades aro correspondingly low in accuracy where 
they arc low in speed. So, it seems that addition and subtraction 
have been stressed at the cost of multiplication. 

2. Accuracy. — (a) Comparison by per cents inside San Fran- 
cisco. — Speed alone means little in arithmetic unless the work is 
accurate. Table 124 is a distribution table of accuracy, the figures 
indicating tho number of pupils who solved correctly a certain per 
cent of the problems that they tried. As, for example, in the table 
under "Addition" and opposite Grade VIII, tho figure 24 appears 
under the column headed 50. This means that 24 pupils in the eighth 
grade out of 219 solved correctly 50 per cent to 60 per- cent of the 
problems that they attempted. 

Under the heading "Median"|[and opposite Grade VIII appears 
tho number 74.8. This means that one-half of tho pupils of Grade 
VIII solved correctly 74.8 per cent or more of tho problems that 
they attempted 

Table 124. — Number of pupils, by grades, correctly solving a given per cent of problem* 

attempted (Courtis tests). 

ADDITION. 



Grades. 


0-49 
per 
cent. 


50 
per 
cent. 


60 
per 
cent. 


70 

per 
cent. 


80 
per 
cent. 


90 
per 
cent. 


100 
per 

cent. 


Papers. 


Median. 


VIII 


21 
52 
39 
60 


24 
32 

32 

29 


40 
55 
40 
50 


51 
41 

57 
29 


44 

52 
51 
59 


25 
15 
15 
15 


14 

29 
35 
55 


219 

276 
269 
297 


74.8 


VII.. 


69.8 


VI 


74.1 


V 


75.3 






SUBTRACTION. 


VIII 


3 

18 
18 
46 


11 
12 
14 
22 


14 

28 
31 
17 


25 
46 
45 
47 


51 
05 
62 
63 


63 
53 
41 
30 


52 
53 

58 
69 


219 
275 
269 
294 


90.90 


VII 


85.15 


VI 


84.27 


V 


82.62 







i The term "speed" is used with reference to the p^r cent of examples attempted: the term "attempts" 
is used with reference to the number of examples attempted. When we say that a certain grade shows a 
high rate of speed, we mean that said grade attempted a great number of examples as compared with the 
standard number usually attempted by pupils in that time; the correctness of the examples is not con- 
sidered. 

» See p. 262. 






TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



259 



Table 124.— Number of pupils, by grades, correctly solving a given per cent of problems 
attempted (Courtis tests) — Continued. 



MULTIPLICATION. 



Grades. 


0-49 
per 
cent. 


50 
per 
cent. 


GO 
per 
cent. 


70 
per 
cent. 


80 
per 
cent. 


90 
per 
cent. 


100 
per 
cent. 


Papers. 


Median. 


VIII 


17 
87 

20 
73 


26 
30 
32 
33 


33 

49 
36 
59 


50 
54 
53 
23 


43 
59 
60 
54 


22 

21 

15 

6 


28 
26 
53 
46 


219 
276 
269 
294 


76.00 


VII 


74.07 


VI 


78.77 


V 


66.94 







DIVISION. 



VITI. 
VII.. 
VI... 
V.... 



7 


8 


21 


26 


51 


21 


84 


218 


34 


31 


24 


47 


58 


13 


69 


276 


21 


22 


31 


26 


72 


22 


75 


269 


123 


36 


28 


12 


38 


2 


58 


297 



89.20 
80.34 
74.79 
57.08 



Figure 66 shows the median results for accuracy. In the eighth- 
grade division the median child had an accuracy of nearly 90 per 
fine record. The 



cent — a very 
fifth grade made a poor record in 
division; all grades lag behind in 
multiplication ; the sixth grade runs 
ahead of the seventh and eighth; 
San Francisco children make little 
progress (from grade 5 to grade 8) 
in getting problems right in all 
operations except division. 

A glance at the median column 
of Table 124 is sufficient to show 
that the various grades do not 
keep the same rank in the different 
operations. Accordingly, Table 
125 is given to show which rank 
each grade occupies in each oper- 
ation, 1 indicating the best and 
4 the worst of the four grades. 
Thus the second column indicates 
that Grade VIII was best in ad- 
dition, Grade VII poorest, Grade 
VI next to the top, and Grade V 
next to the bottom. 

FromTables 124 and 125 it would 
seem that Grade VII needs drill 
in addition for accuracy. It is 
noticeable that in sub traction accu- 
racy is high, and there is a grad- 
ual increase in accuracy as we go 



Rcsults of Arithmetic Test 
Mcoian Accuracy, By Grades 




GRAOE 5 6 7 



Figure 66. — The average scores of all grades test- 
ed in arithmetic arc arranged in groups to show tho 
amount of improvement from grade 5 to grade 8 in 
each of the four tests. Although tested on exactly 
the same examples, there appears to be no improve- 
ment in facility in addition from grade 5 to grade 8. 
A drop is noted in grade 7 in addition, and also in 
multiplication. 



260 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

Table 125.— Order in which the grades rank in each operation on accuracy (Courtis tests). 



Grades. 


Addition. 


Subtrac- 
tion. 


Multipli- 
cation. 


Division: 


VIII 


1 
4 
2 
3 


1 
2 
3 

4 


2 
3 
1 
4 


1 


VII........... 


2 


VI 


3 


V........ 


4 







upward through tho grades from V to VIII. In multiplication it 
seems that Graole VI has been well drilled for accuracy and that the 
time for drill on this operation may well be shortened. In all other 
grades the accuracy is materially below that for subtraction, which 
fact may indicate a need for more drill for Grades V, VII, and VIII. 
Grade V is especially noticeable in this respect. In division the fifth 
grade runs low and may need more time to be given to drill in the 
operation. 

If Dr. Courtis's standard for a 100 per cent accuracy bo a good 
one, all the schools of San Francisco need drill to increase accuracy 
in the fundamental operations of arithmetic. However, there is a 
marked increase in accuracy in division of the eighth grade as com- 
pared with the fifth grade. Addition and multiplication do not 
indicate very pronounced increase of tho eighth grade over the fifth 
grade. All grades rank very high in accuracy in subtraction. 

(h) Variations in different schools in San Francisco. — There was, 
however, a wide variation in tho accuracy attained by different 
schools. Table 126 shows a comparative study of the median accu- 
racy in the grades tested. This does not include all of the schools 
of the city, but a fist of 13 schools taken at random. 

Table 12G. — Median accuracy for each grade of 14 schools tested in San Francisco (Courtis 

tests). 



Grades. 


School. 


Addi- 
tion. 


Subtrac- 
tion. 


Multipli- 
cation. 


Division. 


VIIIB 


4 
7 

12 
6 
7 
2 
9 

12 


81.3 

80.5 
80.0 
74. G 
74.3 
70.9 
02.0 
59.0 


91.8 
81.0 
91.8 
88.1 
01.1 
84.4 
83.5 
93.0 


70.5 
82.5 
90.0 
70.3 
78.0 
72.1 
77.8 
90.2 


98.6 


B 


9S.3 


B. 


91.1 


B 


85.6 


A 


97.6 


B... 


80.0 


A 


88.3 


A 


94.1 










74.8 


90.9 


70.7 


89.2 








VIIB.... 


1 

3 
10 
11 
13 
8 
5 


80.5 
79.5 
71.7 
C9.4 
60.9 
62.0 
60.0 


83.0 
88.5 
83.6 
94.2 
80.7 
79.0 
72.5 


72.1 
70.9 
70.3 
77.3 
75.0 
60.2 
70.0 


79.3 


A 


85.0 


B 


80.4 


B.... 


83.7 


B.. 


70.5 


B 


75.0 


A 


70.0 










69.8 


85.1 


74.0 


80.0 









TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OP PUPILS. 



261 



Table 126.— Median accuracy for each grade of 14 schools tested in San Francisco (Courtis 

tests) — Continued. 



Grades. 


School. 


Addi- 
tion. 


Subtrac- 
tion. 


Multipli- 
cation. 


Division. 


VIB 


2 

12 
7 

14 
9 

12 

14 
G 
4 


87.0 
• 81.3 
78.8 
75.0 
73.0 
73.0 
72.3 
68.5 
56.4 


91.0 
86.3 
91.7 

83.7 
83.0 
83.7 
85.0 
80.9 
76.8 


84.0 
88.6 

83.3 
70.2 
77.0 
82.5 
67.5 
73.3 
70.3 


84.0 


B 


84.2 




95.0 


B 


91.3 


B.„ 


90.0 


A 


88.1 


A 


81.6 


B 


82.5 


A 


80.3 










74.2 


84.3 


78.8 


84.8 








VB 


3 
10 

8 
11 

1 

5 
13 


88.8 
80.3 
83.0 
65.8 
65.5 
60.0 
53.0 


80.6 
89.2 
85.5 
81.9 
83.6 
62.5 
79.3 


69.4 
85.4 
82.8 
69.4 
58.6 
53.4 
52.8 


67.0 


B 

B 


100.0 
67.0 


A 


47.8 


B 


59.3 




36.4 


A 


26.6 










73.3 


82.6 


66.9 


57.0 









(c) Comparison of San Francisco with Courtis standards for speed 
and accuracy. 

These statements concerning accuracy are, of course, without 
much meaning until compared with accuracy in other cities. Table 
127 makes such comparisons with the Courtis standard scores. By a 
"Courtis standard score" is meant the median score of many thousand 
school children from various parts of the country as determined by 
Dr. Courtis. It is the median of all the children that have taken the 
test in a given grade up to the time of publication. The first column 
of the table contains the number of problems a grade should attempt, 
according to Dr. Courtis. The second column contains the number 
of problems that the children of San Francisco did attempt. The 
third column contains the per cent of the problems attempted that 
the grades solved correctly. The fourth column contains the number 
of problems the grade solved correctly. All these figures give the 
median number for the grades. Thus, in addition, Grade VIII 
should attempt 12 problems. It did attempt 11.98, and of these 
it solved correctly 74.8 per cent or nine problems. 



262 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 127. — Comparison of median speed and accuracy in San Francisco with Courtis 

standards. 

ADDITION. 



Grades. 


Courtis 
speed. 


San 

Francisco 

speed. 


Per cent of 
accuracy, 

San 
Francisco. 


Number of 

problems 

correct, 

Sau 

Francisco. 


VIII 


12 
11 
9 
7 


11.98 
9.77 

10.33 
8.21 


74.80 
69.82 
74.12 
73.30 


9.0 


VII 


7.0 


VI 


7.5 


V 


5.7 







SUBTRACTION. 



VIII 


12 
11 

10 

8 


13.90 

12.57 

11.40 

9.18 


90.87 
85.15 
84.27 
82.62 


12.6 


VII 


11.0 


VI 


9.2 


V 


7.4 







MULTIPLICATION. 



VIII 


11 

10 
9 
7. 


10.54 
9.15 

8.83 
6.80 


76.70 
74.07 
78.77 
66.94 


8.4 


VII 


6.7 


VI 


6.6 


V 


4.9 







DIVISION. 



VIII 
VII. 
VI.. 
V... 



11 


9.62 


89.20 


10 


8.15 


80.34 


8 


7.67 


74.79 


6 


4.76 


57.08 



8.9 
6.4 
6.0 
2.9 



(d) Comparison of San Francisco with other cities for accuracy. — 
Table 128 compares San Francisco with several other cities for 
accuracy. 



TESTS OP THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



263 



Table 128. — Results of Courtis tests in various places, San Francisco included — Per 

cent of accuracy. 1 ' 



Grade 













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CT> 


OS 


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"5 


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>> 


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1 




5 

* 


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gos 

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CS 05 

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Si 

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1 

a 


M 

I 

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1 


2 


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© 




il 


n 


S 


o 


O 


O 


O 


CO 


H 


EH 


P 


P 


ca 


W 




B 



ADDITION. 



VIII. 
VII.. 
VI... 
V.... 



58 


72 


70 


75 


71 


65 


66 


78 


89 




64 


72 


77 


53 


65 


6S 


70 


67 


63 


59 


73 


76 


71 


60 


70 


75 


55 


04 


64 


74 


65 


59 


55 


73 


81 


06 


59 


64 


74 


55 


59 


57 


73 


61 


52 


53 


68 


57 


62 


58 


63 


71 



SUBTRACTION. 



vni 


72 
76 
68 
69 


80 
76 
72 
73 


84 

84 
80 
72 


91 

85 
84 
83 


86 
83 
81 
75 


80 
77 
72 
63 


77 
75 
70 
69 


92 

88 
85 
84 


83 

87 
92 
69 


82 
75 
69 


79 
78 
71 
70 


87 
83 
81 
78 


88 
86 
86 
83 


2 


VII 


4 


VI 


4 


v 


« 







MULTIPLICATION. 



vin. 

VII.. 
VI... 

v.... 



67 


72 
70 


80 
76 


77 
74 


82 

78 


77 
74 


71 

62 


85 
82 


77 
82 






82 
79 


87 

80 


62 


77 




62 


68 


74 


79 


77 


68 


G5 


81 


67 


73 




76 


77 


43 


63 


66 


67 


69 


57 


59 


79 


65 


67 




74 


75 



DIVISION. 



VIII 


68 
76 
72 
52 


85 
80 
87 
61 


88 
83 
80 
69 


89 
80 
75 
57 


92 

87 
84 
68 


87 
81 
71 
52 


85 
82 
69 
55 


97 
95 
86 
81 


92 

88 
82 
68 






92 

88 
84 
79 


91 

88 
85 
80 


6 


VII 


90 
84 
74 




10 


VI 


9 


V 


9 







» The data of the 20 Kansas cities are taken from studies made by Prof. W. S. Monroe and reported in 
bis publication entitled "A Report of the use of tho Courtis Standard Research Tests in Arithmetic in 
Twenty-four Cities." 

All other data, except that of San Francisco, were taken from tho figures of Mr. S. A. Courtis, as reported 
by Prof. George Melcher in Bulletin No. 1 of the Bureau of Research and Elliciency, Kansas City, Mo., 
Public Schools, 1916. 

The table should be read thus: In addition the median accuracy of the eighth grado, "General," Feb- 
ruary, 1914, was 58 per cent; "General," June, 1914, 72 per cent; San Francisco, 75 per cent, and so on 
across the line for eighth grade in addition. Tho same method should be used for all the grades and opera- 
tions. 

* Derived from the tabulation of results from many schools In different cities and States. 

1 Kamsas City has only seven grades in its elementary schools. 

From a study of Table 128 these facts become apparent: 

1. In a majority of cases San Francisco children were more accurate 
than tho thousands of children reported by Dr. Courtis under the 
head "General." 

2. In every case except seventh grade division, San Francisco 
children were more accurate than January tests of other cities reported 
in Table 128. As the San Francisco tests were given in February, 
this fact becomes very significant, since the various grades in the 
respective cities had reached practically tho same stage of progress. 



264 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

3. In addition San Francisco ranks low in seventh and eighth 
grades, and high in the fifth and sixth. There is very little increase 
in accuracy as the grades are ascended. A marked increase in each 
successive grade ought to be expected. 

4. In subtraction San Francisco ranks high, and there is a steady 
increase in accuracy as the grades are ascended. 

5. In multiplication San Francisco becomes a median city in the 
fifth and eighth grades, falls below in the seventh, and above in the 
sixth. There is no increase of efficiency after the sixth grade. In 
common with the other studies, all percentages in multiplication 
are too low. 

6. In division there is a marked increase in accuracy as the grades 
are ascended. However, San Francisco makes her poorest showing 
in division. 

7. The eighth grade ranks behind the median of all cities in addi- 
tion and division, with the median in multiplication, and ahead in 
subtraction. 

8. The seventh grade is behind the median for all cities in. every 
operation. 

9. The sixth grade ranks ahead of the general median in all opera- 
tions except division. 

10. The fifth grade ranks far ahead of the general median in addi- 
tion and subtraction, with the median in multiplication, and far 
behind in division. 

It is very difficult to give the precise per cent of accuracy to which 
the school can afford to train its classes as groups. The Courtis 
standards hold forth 100 per cent as the goal, but the author him- 
self admits that it is impossible to train all children to reach it. We 
believe, however, that San Francisco children can bo profitably 
trained to reach a higher percentage of accuracy in solving problems 
than they exhibited, for this reason: In Table 128 it may be noticed 
that Boston children, as a rule, did not make as good showing in 
tests given in January, 1915, as did the San Francisco children in 
February, 1916; but after they were drilled until May they made a 
marvelous increase in accuracy, going far beyond San Francisco's 
showing in most cases. This increase was brought about in a com- 
paratively short time, and there is reason to believe with no unrea- 
sonable amount of drill. While it is true that San Francisco chil- 
dren already make a good showing in accuracy when compared with 
other cities, yet we are of the opinion that they can and should make 
a much better showing. 

Twenty Kansas cities also made a good showing in some ways, 
but it is not known whether they were drilled or not. 

3. Variability.— {a) Speed. — Thus far each grade, school, etc., has 
been treated as though the children were all represented accurately 



TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



265 



by the medians. But inside each group there are variations, and 
these variations arc by no means alike in the different cases. It is 
of considerable importance in arithmetic class work to know how 
closely the children progress together. For this reason the following 
study in variability has been made. It gives only figures for San 
Francisco, because no figures for comparison could be found in other 
surveys. Such figures do appear in the Indiana cities and Kansas 
surveys, but the units for figuring variability were not the same as 
those used here. 

Table 129 shows the variability in speed of the four grades in the 
four operations. For each grade is given the median of problems 
attempted and finished, quartiles ' 1 and 3, the variability 2 and the 
per cent of variability. 3 

Table 129. — Variations in speed of San Francisco children in the Courtis tests. 

ADDITION. 



Grades. 


Median. 


Quartile 1. 


Quartile 3. 


Variation. 


Per cent ol 
variability. 


VIII 


11.98 
9.77 

10.33 
8.21 


9.C5 
7.63 
8.66 
6.17 


14.35 
10.92 
11.89 
9.25 


2.35 
1.65 
1.61 
1.54 


19. 


VII 


16.8 


VI 


16.0 


V , 


18.7 






SUBTRACTION. 


VIII 


13.93 
12.57 
11.40 
9.18 


11.26 
10.51 
9.68 
7.29 


17.12 

14.12 
13.39 
10.42 


2.93 
1.81 
1.86 
1.57 


21.0 


VII 


14.4 


VI 


16.0 


V 


17.0 






MULTIPLICATION. 


VIII 


10.54 
9.15 
8.83 
6.80 


8.94 
7.57 
7.20 
5.59 


11.43 

9.88 
9.58 
7.27 


1.25 

1.16 
1.19 

.84 


12 


VII , 


13 


VI 


13 


V 


12 






DP7ISI0N. 


VIII..., , 


9.C2 
8.15 
7.G7 
4.76 


7.45 
6.43 
6.67 
3.13 


11.57 

9.00 
8.58 
5.59 


2.06 
1.29 
.96 
1.23 


2« 


VII 


12 


VI 


ie 


V 


21 







(6) Accuracy. — Table 130 shows the per cent of variability in ac- 
curacy of the four grades in the four operations. For each grade is 
given the median, quartiles 1 and 3, the variability, and per cent of 
variability. 

» By "quartile" is meant the point in a series above which or below which one-fourth of the pupils fall. 
It is the median of the upper half of a scries or of tho lower half of a series. In referring to the upper half 
the point above which one-fourth of the cases fall is called the upper or third quartile. In referring to 
the lower half of cases, the point below which one-fourth of the cases fall is called the first quartile. 

J The "variability" is found by taking one-half the difference between the quartiles; it is thus the aver- 
age variability of the quartiles from the median. 

• The "per cent of variability" is found by dividing the variability by the median. 



266 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FRANCISCO. 



It is seen that the greatest variability is in Grade V in all opera- 
tions. In addition, multiplication, and division wo could reasonably 
expect the variability of Grade VII to be less than Grade VI, which 
is not true. 

Table 130. — Variations in accuracy of San Francisco children in the Courtis tests. 

ADDITION. 



Grades. 


Median. 


QuartTel. 


^uartile 3 


Variabil- 
ity. 


Per cent 
of varia- 
bility. 


VIII 


74.80 
69.82 
74.12 
73.30 


62.40 
55.30 
58.08 
54.90 


86.5 
85.2 
86.2 
89.3 


12.00 
15.00 
13.70 
17.20 


16.1 


VII 


21.5 


VI 


10.8 


V 


23.6 







SUBTRACTION. 



VIII. 
VII. . 
VI... 

v.... 



90.87 


80.34 


99.57 


9.61 


10. C 


85. 15 


72.30 


97.03 


12.36 


14.8 


84.27 


70.94 


97.74 


13.40 


15.9 


82.62 


63.24 


98.50 


17.63 


21.3 



MULTIPLICATION. 



vni 


76.70 
74.07 

78.77 
66.94 


63.50 
60.40 
64.24 
50. 15 


88.90 
86.27 
90.50 
85.83 


12.70 
12.93 
13.13 
17.84 


16.1 


VII 


17.5 


VI 


16.7 


v 


26.7 






DIVISION. 


VIII 


89.20 
80.34 
74.79 

57.08 


77.10 
61.67 
67.82 
31.36 


100.00 
100.00 
100.00 
87.25 


11.40 
19.16 
16.09 
27.94 


12.8 


VII 


23.9 


VI 


21.5 


V 


48.9 







4. Conclusions on Courtis test results. 

On the basis of the findings of the foregoing study, and assuming 
the validity of the standards which have been developed by the 
studies in other cities, it appears: 

1. That accuracy should be emphasized more and speed somewhat 
less in teaching the fundamental operations in San Francisco. 

2. That the seventh grade in particular needs drill in accuracy. 

3. That accuracy is being emphasized probably enough at the 
present time in the sixth grade, except in division. 

4. That certain grades need special drills in certain fundamentals. 
These are indicated as being behind the general median above. 

5. That drill in addition, multiplication, and division is needed 
far more than in subtraction. 

FINDINGS OfJsTONE^TESTI(fOrJrEASONING). 1 

1. Attempts. — The Stone test has not been so widely used as the 
Courtis tests; consequently it is not possible to give so many com- 
parisons as in the preceding section. 



1 For a description of this test, see p. 251. 



TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



267 



Table 131 shows the distribution of attempts for the Stone test. 
It should be noted that the results hero represent the scores as 
computed according to the weighted values of correct answers, and 
not number of problems. The first horizontal lino represents the 
score. The lines below it represent Grades VIII, VII, VI, and V, 
respectively. For example, one child in Grade VIII made a score 
of 2, etc. From the median column at tho right it will be noted that 
the median score for Grade VIII is 9.6. This means that out of 
228 pupils 114 pupils tried a sufficient number of problems to get a 
score of more than 9.6, and that 114 pupils out of the same grade 
tried a smaller number than the first 114 and got less than a score 
of 9.6. A similar meaning is to bo attached to the median in each 
of the other grades. Note that Grade VII falls below Grade VI 
and that Grado V is relatively much lower than tho other grades. 

Table 132 gives the same scores on a percentage basis. 

Table 131. — Distribution table for attempts of San Francisco children in the Stone tests. 

Stono reasoning test. 



Grades. 





• 


2 


3 


4 


5 





7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


17 


To- 
tal. 


Me- 
dian. 


vm 






1 


"*4* 

2 

35 


5 

9 

8 

43 


11 

30 
38 
76 


26 
72 
49 
45 


10 
14 
13 
3 


40 
40 
39 
23 


33 

20 
26 

* 9 


8 
16 
23 

6 


33 
21 
19 


4 
10 

6 


31 
16 
21 
3 


4 
2 


13 
9 
9 
3 


"2 


9 
12 
9 


228 

276 
262 
300 


9.60 


VII 






7.22 


VI 








8.54 


v 


7 


13 


26 


V 


5.34 






Table 132. — Percentage of attempts — Stone test. 




(Comparisons inside San Francisco.) 




Grades. 





1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


17 


To- 
tal. 


Me- 
dian. 


VIII.. ..... 






0.4 




2.2 


4.8 


11.4 


4.3 


17.6 


14. 5 


3.5 


14. 5 


1.7 


13. 6 


1.7 


5.7 




3.9 


99.8 


9.60 


VII 








1.4 


3.3 


10.9 


26.1 


5.1 


14.5 


7.3 


5.8 


7.6 


3.7 


5.8 


.7 


3.3 


6.4 


4.3 


101.0 


7.22 


VI......... 








.8 


3.1 


14.5 


18.7 


4.9 


14.9 


9.9 


8.8 


7.2 


2.3 


8.0 




3.4 




3.4 


99.9 


8.54 


V 


2.3 


4.3 


8.7 


11.7 


14.3 


25.3 


15.0 


1.0 


7.7 


3.0 2.0 


.7 


1.3 


1.0 




1.0 


.7 




100.0 


5.34 



2. Accuracy, — (a) Absolute figures. — Table 133 presents tho facts 
regarding the number of examples correctly worked in the Stono 
tests — that is, the number of " rights." To illustrate, in Grade VIII 
19 pupils solved enough examples correctly to receive a score of 3. 
In estimating scores, fractions less than five-tenths were dropped, 
those above five-tenths were added to the score, or a score of 6.5 
was called 7, etc. Table 134 gives the same scores on a percentage 
basis. 

A striking thing about this table is the number of pupils who failed 
to solve a single problem correctly. This is especially noteworthy in 
Grades V, VI, and VII. There is a gradual increase in the ability of 



268 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



pupils as they advance through the grades, but the median of Grade 
VI is practically the same as that of Grade VII. 
The facts of Table 134 are shown also in Figure 67. 

Table 133.— Distribution for number of problems solved correctly by San Francisco 
children in the Stone reasoning tests. 



Grades. 





1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


17 


Total. 


Me- 
dian . 


VIII 


! 


3 


7 


19 


23 


30 


39 


23 


42 


18 


11 


5 


3 


1 


2 




1 




228 


6.80 


VTI 


10 
10 
CI 


9 
24 

48 


21 
34 

48 


22 
39 
62 


47 
46 
46 


65 
48 
21 


47 

29 

4 


23 
14 

5 


18 
9 
2 


4 
6 
2 


2 

"i" 


3 
2 


2 


2 
1 


1 








276 
262 
300 


5.40 


VI ... 








5.52 


V 










2.85 




















Total 


82 


84 


110 


142 


162 


164 


119 


65 


71 


30 


14 


10 


5 


4 


3 


.... 


1 


.... 


1,066 




Table 13 


4.— -Percentage for each score, based on number of problems solved correctly by 




San Francisco children — Stone tests. 




(Comparisons insido San Francisco.) 


Grades. 





1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


17 


To- 
tal. 


Me- 
dian. 


VIII 


0.4 


1.3 


3.1 


8.3 


10.1 


13.2 


17.1 


10.1 


18.4 


7.9 


4.8 


2.2 


1.3 


0.4 


0.8 




0.4 




99.8 


6.8 


VII 


3.6 


3.3 


7.6 


8.0 


17.0 


23.6 


17.0 


8.3 


6.5 


1.5 


.7 


1.1 


.7 


.7 


.4 




... 


.... 


100.0 


5.4 


VI 


3.8 


9.2 


13.0 


14.9 


17.6 


18.3 


11.1 


5.4 


3.4 


2.3 


.8 







.4 


.... 








100.2 


5.5 


V 


20.3 


16.0 


16.0 


20.7 


15.3 7.0 

i 


1.3 


1.7 


.7 


.7 


.3 


.... 


.... 


.... 


.... 




.... 


.... 


100.0 


2.85 



Accurate comparison with other cities on reasoning is very difficult, 
because large numbers of pupils put down only the answers to the 
problems. This prevented any possibility of giving some credit on 
problems reasoned correctly but not figured accurately, which credit 
may have been allowed in some other cities. With this caution in 
mind on the basis of the scores actually allowed in San Francisco, the 
results appear thus: 

1. If Grades V to VIII are combined for San Francisco, the city 
comes next to the bottom two in Stone's list of results for sixth grade 
in 26 cities. 

2. If Grade V is dropped in San Francisco, the remaining three 
grades combined only equal the eighth from the bottom in Stone's 
list. 

3. If sixth grades only are considered, San Francisco is next to 
the bottom of Stone's list. It is also much below Bridgeport, Conn. , 
as reported in that survey. 



TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 



269 



Results of Arithmetic Tests 

Percchtage of Pupils Attaining Given Scopes 

Problems Involving R6a&©^*ng 

MEDIAN SCORES 
STH 6TH STH 

2.8 -S.S 6.0 



7TH « 5-4- 



STH 6R/3DE 




SCORES O I 2 3 4 56 7 69 10 11 H.I3I4I5I6 



Figure 67.— The same problems in arithmetic involving reasoning were given to pupils in grades five, 
six, seven, and eight. Nevertheless, the median score for the seventh grades tested (5.4) was lower than 
that for tho sixth grades (5.5). A striking number of pupils failed to solve a single problem correctly in 
15 minutes, as shown in left-hand vertical column over score "0." 



270 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 135 gives a comparison of San Francisco with other cities in 
accuracy on the Stone tests, for all cities about which data on Grades 
V to VIII were available. The Roman numerals represent grades, 
and the Arabic numerals are the median scores achieved by the 
grades. 

Table 135. — Comparison of San Francisco with other cities in accuracy — Stone test, 

median scores. 



City. 


VIII. 


VII. 


VI. 


V. 


Salt Lake City 


10.5 

7.7 
6.8 


8.6 
5.8 
5.4 


6.4 
3.9 
4.5 


3.7 


Butte 


2.2 




2.8 







From tins table it seems probable that San Francisco children do 
Qot reason so well as do those of Salt Lake City. Grades V and VI 
are a little better than tho corresponding grades in Butte, but the 
reverse is true of Grades VII and VIII. It is to bo noticed that the 
San Francisco children make less progress in their power to reason 
in arithmetic as they advance in the grades, than do the children of 
either Salt Lake City or Butte. In Salt Lake City the increase in the 
achievement of Grade VIII over Grade V is 184 per cent; in Butte, 
250 per cent, in San Francisco, only 138 per cent. In this connection 
it is to be noted that San Francisco is only average in Grade V to 
start with. 

CONCLUSION. 

Allowing for all probablo differences in scoring, it seems entirely 
likely that the San Francisco schools should give much more emphasis 
to problems in arithmetic whoso solution demands accurate reasoning 
with numerical data. 



SUMMARY OP CONCLUSIONS. 
SUGGESTED BY TESTS OP THE ACHIEVEMENTS OP PUPILS. 

Penmanship, 

1. So far as form alone is concerned, the writing of the San Francisco 
children is good. 

2. Whether this excellence is attained at the sacrifico of speed or 
in company with tho attainment of a satisfactory speed is not estab- 
lished by these tests. 

3. Tho particular type of progress from grade to grade should be 
studied critically, since it deviates considerably from the practice in 
other cities. 

4. Variability among schools should also bo studied carefully. 
Spelling. 

5. The city as a whole ranks considerably above tho standard 
average for a large number of cities. 



TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 271 

6. Girls seem to spell uniformly better than boys.. 

7. Further tests should bo made in all the schools to determine 
the causes of the wide variations in achievement, 

Reading. 

8. There is need of standardizing the work in reading for the system 
as a whole, so as to securo a more definite progress in ability from 
grade to grade. 

9. A reasonable degree of uniformity in progress among the dif- 
ferent schools should bo sought, to facilitate the transfer and promo- 
tion of pupils. 

10. Reading tests on a much larger scale should bo conducted in 
order to determine standards and to assist in ehminating extreme 
variations. 

Arithmetic. 

11. The San Francisco children made an unusually good showing 
in speed, but did not do so well in accuracy, and did not show the 
usual increases in accuracy with progress through the grades. 

12. More emphasis should be placed on accuracy in all phases of 
arithmetic work. 

13. A study should be made to determine the causes for the 
apparent inferiority of tho seventh grades in several of the tests. 

14. A study should be made to determine the causes of the extreme 
variations in ability among tho several schools and grades. 

15. A study should be made to determine the possibility of excusing 
certain individual pupils from unnecessary drill. 

16. More emphasis is needed on certain fundamental operations, 
and on problems involving reasoning. s 



Chapter VIII. 

THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 



The public high school in America has had a remarkable develop- 
ment, not only in numbers, size, and magnificence of material equip- 
ment, but in variety of types which have been evolved in the effort 
to meet conditions as they have existed in different localities or as 
they have changed with the passing of the years. A simple catalogue 
of the more important of these types of secondary schools serves to 
illustrate the extent of the development which has taken place : 



Types of organization: 

Four years, based on eight years 

elementary school. 
Six years, based on sis years ele- 
mentary school. 
Junior high school, three years. 
Senior high school, three years. 
Township high school. 
County high school. 
Evening. 
Continuation. 
Part time, cooperative. 
Technical. 
Vocational. 
Cosmopolitan. 



Types of curriculum: 

General. 

College preparatory. 

Classical. 

Scientific. 

Literary. 

Professional. 

Commercial. 

Agricultural. 

Manual training, mechanic arts, 

technical. 
Industrial. 
Homemaking, home economics. 

household arts. 
Normal. 



The development of high schools in numbers and size is suggested 
by Table 135a and figure G7a. During the decade from 1890 to 
1900, while the total population of continental United States in- 
creased 20.7 per cent, Table 135b, the number of high schools re- 
porting to the Bureau of Education increased 137.7 per cent, the 
number of high-school teachers increased 123.4 per cent, and the 
number of high-school students increased 155.8 per cent. These 
rates of increase were accelerated somewhat during the succeeding 
decade, until about 1908, when a period of even more rapid expansion, 
especially in numbers of teachers and students, began. This rapid 
expansion is still effective, so far as the latest available figures show. 

272 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 



273 



In 1915, while the total population had increased to 159.5 per cent 
of the population in 1890, the number of high schools was 4G2.2 per 



PUBLIC 

HIGM SCHOOLS 

REPORTING TO BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

1889-90 TO 1914-15 




INCREASE IN 
NUMBER OF 

TEACHERS 

685.5 % 

yKSTUDENTS 

654,8 % 



SCHOOLS 
4.62.2 % 



POP. OF U.S. 
159.5 % 



cent of the number in 1890, the number of teachers was G85.5 per 
cent, and the number of high-school students was 654.8 per cent. 
93815—17 18 



274 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 



Table 135a. 



-Development of public high schools reporting to the United States 
Bureau of Education, 1SS0-90 to 19U-15. 1 



Year reported. 


Schools. 


Teachers. 


Students. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


18S9^90 


2,520 
2,771 
3,035 
3,218 
3,9C4 

4,712 
4,974 
5,109 
5,315 
5,495 

0,005 
0,318 
6,292 
6,810 
7,230 

7,570 
8,031 
8,804 
8,900 
9,317 

10,213 
10,234 
11,224 
11,277 
11,515 
11,674 


100.0 
109.7 
120.2 
127.4 
156.9 

180.5 
196.9 
202.3 
210.4 
217.5 

237.7 
250.1 
249.1 
209.2 
2S6.2 

299.9 
317.9 
348.5 
354.7 
368.8 

404.3 
405.1 
4-1-1. 3 
446.4 
455. 9 
462.2 


9,120 
8,270 
9, 564 
10,141 
12, 120 

14,122 
15, 700 
16,809 
17,941 
18,718 

20,372 
21,778 
22,415 
24,349 
26,760 

28,461 
30,844 
32,774 
35,399 
37,491 

41,667 
45, 167 
51,853 
53,738 
57,909 
62,519 


100.0 
90.7 
104.9 
111.2 
132.9 

154.8 
172.1 
184.3 

196.7 
205.2 

223.4 
238.8 
245.8 
267.0 
293.4 

312.1 
338.2 
359.4 
388.1 
411.1 

456.9 
495.3 
568. 6 
589.2 
635.0 
685.5 


202,963 
211,596 
239,556 
251,023 
2S9,274 

350,099 
380,493 
409.433 
449,000 
476,227 

519,251 
541,730 
550,011 
592,213 
635,808 

079,702 
722,692 
751, 0S1 
770,456 
841,273 

915,061 
984,677 
1,105.360 
1,134,771 
1,218,804 
1,328,984 


100 


1890-91 


101.3 


l>9l-92 


118 


1892*93 

1893-94 


125.2 
142 5 


1894-95 


172 5 


1895-96 


187.5 


1893-97 


201.7 


1897-98 


221.5 


1898-99 


234.6 


1899-1910 


255.8 


1900 1901 


266.9 


1911-2 „ 


271.3 


1932-3 


291.8 


1903^1 


313.3 


1901-5 


334 9 


1905-6 


356.1 


1906-7 


370.1 


1907-8 


379.6 


1908-9 


414.5 


1909-10 


450.9 


1910-11 


485.2 


1911-12 


544.6 


1912-13.. 


559. 1 


1913-14 


600.5 


1914-15 


654.8 







1 See Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ending June 30, 1916, Vol. II, p. 449. 

Table 135b. — Increase in total population of continental United States from 

1S90 to 1915. 



Census year. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


1890 


62,947,714 
75,994,575 
91.972,266 
100,399,318 


100.7 


1900 


120.1 


1910 


146.5 


19152 


159.0 







2 Estimated. 



NEED OF ADJUSTMENT TO NEW CONDITIONS. 

These figures tell only part of the story of the development of sec- 
ondary education. The expansion of high-school facilities and the 
introduction of varied courses of study have not kept pace with the 
changes in the social, economic, and occupational life of the people. 
In its beginnings the high school was almost exclusively a college 
preparatory school for the narrowly limited number of persons who 
were expected to enter the higher professional callings. The or- 
ganization and the curriculum were developed to meet the specific 
purpose of preparation for college and professional school, and the 
high school passed through a long period during which its entire 
machinery of aims and methods was practically prescribed by the 
assumed necessity of conformity with college-entrance requirements. 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 275 

Within a few short decades, however, a new and more democratic 
ideal has emerged, and now the attainment of a high-school educa- 
tion by every boy and girl has been acclaimed as a reasonable object 
of endeavor, and educational writers frequently refer, to the high 
school as the " people's college " as an assured fact. 

It is important to note that if high-school advantages arc to bo 
participated in by all boys and girls there must be a complete break 
with the tradition that the satisfaction of college-entrance require- 
ments will adequately meet the situation, or that any one course of 
instruction for all students will suffice. It must be recognized clearly 
that for many years to come only a small fraction of high-school 
students will enter college. For these the best possible preparation 
for college must continue to be provided, and the requisite expendi- 
ture of time and energy and means for this purpose must not in the 
least be abated. 

For the remaining overwhelming majority of boys and girls it 
must be accepted that the completion of the high-school course repre- 
sents the final limit of attendance upon day school, under existing 
conditions. The question as to the wisdom of attempting to change 
these conditions, so that every individual may reasonably expect to 
receive a college education, is not involved in the acceptance of the 
fact that conditions as they are determine immediate procedure. 

The high school, then, should address itself to the task of discov- 
ering the ways in which it may render the maximum possible assist- 
ance to all boys and girls in their efforts to prepare for useful and 
satisfying careers in many different directions. The problems of 
providing the best possible education for the boy who is to enter a 
steel plant, or a wholesale commission house, or the steam or electric 
railroad service, or the grocery business ; or for a girl who is to enter 
the department store or factory, or manage an office, or become a 
home maker have no less claim upon the attention of the school than 
problems of providing the best possible education for the young 
people who will enter college. The former problems are far more 
complicated, because of the great variety of uses that will be made of 
the training given; their solution presents a much more formidable 
task, because of the larger number of individuals involved. 

Students of education are far from being in agreement as to the 
significance of recent tendencies, or as to the validity of conclusions 
derived from the numerous experiments now under way. Appar- 
ently there is as yet no accepted " best " type of high school. Second- 
ary education is passing through a stage of rapid evolution, and 
many of the factors which will determine the form and status of the 
ultimate institution are still but imperfectly defined and understood. 

Upon every city having the population and the wealth possessed 
by San Francisco falls the responsibility of leadership in the scien- 



276 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

tific and aggressive study of the problems peculiar to the high-school 
period. That San Francisco has not discharged her full duty in 
ihis respect appears from the discussion in the following pages. 

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE SUCCESSFUL HIGH SCHOOL. 

As a statement of the goal toward which all efforts for the im- 
provement of the high schools should consistently strive, a brief 
outline of the important features of the successful high school is 
offered. Every first-class high school in San Francisco, or elsewhere, 
should meet the following conditions: 

(1) A well-built, scientifically arranged, thoroughly equipped, 
thoroughly modernized structure, sufficient in size and appointments, 
not only to accommodate all the pupils who are at present attending 
the school, but all in the immediate district who ought to be attend- 
ing. 

(2) The building should contain, in addition to the usual class- 
rooms, offices, and the like, provision for manual training, household 
arts, equipment and supplies for stenography, typewriting, book- 
keeping, and other commercial work; laboratories well located, well 
lighted, well ventilated, and equipped with modern apparatus; a 
gymnasium sufficient in size to accommodate both evening and day 
school pupils and thoroughly supplied with up-to-date apparatus 
for all kinds of correctional work; a lunch room sufficient in size 
and equipment to accommodate in two or three sections as many 
pupils as the completed structure is intended to care for ; an assembly 
hall equipped with stage and scenery sufficient to make it possible 
for the school itself or the district in which the school is located to 
give dramatic, musical, and other public programs for the sake of 
social life and community expression. 

(3) Courses of study of such variety and strength as to meet the 
educational needs of young people who are to be intelligent, indepen- 
dent citizens in a great democratic State. 

(4) Such a number of teachers of the standards of preparation 
similar to those required by the California State law that the total 
enrollment of the school when divided by the number of teachers 
will be under 30. The principal of the school should be expected to 
take an active part in the selection, promotion, and discharge of his 
teachers, and in the direction of their professional growth in service, 
subject, of course, to the approval of the superintendent of schools, 
who should make all recommendations to the board for the appoint- 
ment, promotion, and discharge of teachers, as recommended in 
Chapter III of this report. 

(5) The principal should be provided with office equipment and 
office help sufficient in quantity to make it unnecessary for his time 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 277 

to be spent in clerical details but rather in strictly professional 

service. 

(6) The principal may act as a dean of men with all the functions 
attributed to such an official, otherwise a capable assistant should 
be employed for this work. There should be a dean of women, a 
director of gymnasium work, a director of athletics, and a director 
of music, including band and orchestra. 

(7) Most important of all is that superintendent and principal 
should be capable of adequate inspiring leadership, and should have 
the necessary freedom and support, professional and financial. 

COMPARISON WITH OTHER CITIES. 

Figures presented in Chapter II 1 show that, in comparison with 
other cities, San Francisco has not shared proportionately in the 
movement for the expansion of public high-school facilities which 
is characteristic of the country as a whole. Only one of the 10 cities 
in the list, Table 15, ranks lower than San Francisco in number of 
high-school pupils per 1,000 of population. Even with a relatively 
small number of elementary-school pupils per 1,000 of population, 
the number of high-school pupils per 1,000 elementary-school pupils 
is low — only two of the 10 cities rank lower, Table 16. 

It has not been possible to determine with certainty what are the 
underlying causes of this comparative neglect of public high-school 
education in San Francisco. While the survey commission was un- 
able to inquire fully into the activities of secondary schools other 
than public, sufficient information was secured to suggest that, com- 
pared with other cities, San Francisco probably has more than her 
proportionate share of students enrolled in such schools. To a cer- 
tain extent a situation of this character undoubtedly reflects a feel- 
ing on the part of many parents that the opportunities and facilities 
of the public high schools are either less adequate, less accessible, or 
inferior to those afforded by private agencies. In any event, it is 
highly desirable that further study of this situation be made, in its 
relation to the relatively inadequate development of public high 
schools in San Francisco. 

Problems relating to- the organization and administration of the 
high schools in San Francisco are discussed more fully in Chapter 
III of this report. We proceed now to a discussion of the schools 
themselves. 

LOCATION OF HIGH SCHOOLS. 

As indicated in the discussion in connection with Figure 17, page 
30, an examination of the map and a study of the congested centers 

1 See page 23. 



278 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

of population in the city show that the high schools are not located 
so as to accommodate to the best advantage the high-school popula- 
tion of the city. The five high schools are located within an area 
inclosed by a circle of approximately 2 miles diameter, in the central 
portion of the city, although the land area of the city embraces 43 
square miles. 

Apparently one of the objects in view in placing the high schools 
thus centrally and near together was to give the student a choice 
among the advantages offered. Those children who reside within a 
reasonable distance of the center of this area are able to exercise 
this privilege. Theoretically the same choice is open to all children, 
but the distances to be traversed and the difficulties involved in 
getting about in certain directions because of topographic features 
operate to prevent the exercise of such choice. 

Not only are many thousands of children thus practically denied 
a choice of high-school work, but there are large portions of San 
Francisco's population that have no high-school accommodations at 
all within convenient reach. The congested centers of Kichmond and 
North Beach, for example, are far awajr from and have no means of 
easy and convenient access to any public high school. The same 
may be said of the larger, though less thickly settled, section of the 
city lying south of an east and west line drawn through one of the 
Twin Peaks. 

In the Polytechnic High School San Francisco is attempting to 
develop certain special types of courses of study, and yet the success 
of this experiment has been jeopardized by the very site selected. 
With Golden Gate Park on one side, and the expanse of unoccupied 
territory surrounding Twin Peaks on the other, it would have been 
difficult to locate the school within walking distance of a smaller 
number of homes. 1 

EVENING SCHOOL IN EACH HIGH SCHOOL. 

To enable the city to comply fully with the evident intent of the 
California law on the subject of evening schools, it is recommended 
that evening schools be opened in all of the high-school buildings 
in the city and equipment and provision in faculty, library, and 
laboratory be made to care for in a satisfactory w T ay all who may 
elect to come and choose their work from the curriculum provided. 
Curricula in such evening schools should provide courses in English 
and citizenship for foreigners, cooking, sewing, mechanical drawing, 
stenography, typewriting, bookkeeping, penmanship, arithmetic, 
printing, and such other subjects as the industries of the city of 
San Francisco seem to demand. For further discussion of evening 
schools see Chapter XV. 

1 See also the discussion of distribution of school facilities, ch. 2, p. 29. 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 279 

BUILDINGS. 

The location of the present buildings can not well be changed. 
The High School of Commerce needs to have its present building 
remodeled and modernized, and an addition built on the adjoining 
lot, on a part of which there are now two temporary wooden build- 
ings in use. The remodeling and modernizing of this building 
should provide for up-to-date lighting and heating, better ventila- 
tion, and a complete reorganization and modernization of the plumb- 
ing. In all the high-school buildings in which such conditions are 
not found, like changes should be made at once. 

The new building for the High School of Commerce should have 
an auditorium large enough to accommodate 1,500 people, a stage 
and stage equipment for public programs and for use in both the 
day and evening school. It should have an indoor gymnasium and 
a lunch room large enough to accommodate this number of students, 
as well as shops and home economics laboratories. 

Equally bad physical conditions were found in the building of 
the Mission High School. Changes in the present building and a 
new structure on the adjoining lot are urgently needed here also. 

In addition to well-equipped laboratories, gymnasium, audito- 
rium, and lunch room in each high-school building, there should be 
also a well-equipped library, in charge of which should be a well- 
trained librarian. Not one of the high schools at present has either 
a well-equipped library or a librarian. It is quite as necessary that 
both the library and the librarian be provided for in all of these 
schools as it is that laboratories, gymnasiums, lunch rooms, audi- 
toriums, and well-equipped teachers shall be provided. The physi- 
cal necessities and the physical equipment with which a teacher is 
confronted play a very great part in the success of the product 
which the school turns out. 

In all the high-school buildings where the toilet rooms are located 
entirely or partially in the basement such changes should be made 
as to place these accommodations on each floor of the building. 
The reason for refusing to approve toilet rooms placed in the base- 
ment is apparent. Such rooms should be placed where there is 
light, proper ventilation, proper sanitation, and proper supervision. 
When placed in the basement they are a constant menace to public 
health, to the discipline of the school, and to the morals of the 
children. 

The buildings not provided with individual lockers for pupils 
should have such provision made at once and these lockers placed in 
the corridors above the basement floor, where they may be super- 
vised and where property belonging to students may be securely 
protected. The pilfering which goes on under other conditions is 



280 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

a menace to good citizenship and ought to have no place for de- 
velopment in a public-school building. 

As indicated in Chapter V, the placing of lockers in the corridors 
is not an ideal arrangement, as they should be provided for in special 
locker rooms which are planned for when the building is laid out. 

NEW HIGH SCHOOLS NEEDED. 

Since the pupils of secondary school age in North Beach and Rich- 
mond have such long distances to go to reach a high school, and 
since the other high schools are so located that they can scarcely 
take care of the pupils of secondary age within their own immediate 
environs, high-school buildings should be constructed in these two 
suburbs. It is not necessary that these buildings provide at first 
for more than junior high schools, but it is clear that with the de- 
velopment of population in these suburban sections there will soon 
be need for senior high-school accommodations. 

OFFICE ASSISTANTS AND EQUIPMENT. 

All the high schools of the city should be provided with such office 
equipment that the records of the school may be adequately pre- 
served and available for constant and immediate use, and that all 
needed clerical work may be done conveniently. There should be a 
record clerk and a stenographer in each high school having 500 
students or more; and certainly a stenographer in each high school 
numbering fewer than 500 students. Under existing conditions, 
without clerical assistance of this kind, the principal is obliged to 
spend much time in keeping records, writing letters, filing papers, 
and answering and operating the telephone, instead of doing the 
professional work properly belonging to his office. 

With such trained help as has been indicated for all of the build- 
ings, and which is for the most part lacking in the present buildings, 
it will be possible to keep a card catalogue of all pupils and to know 
definitely for 10 years following their graduation where they go, 
what they do, and how the school's impression upon them contributes 
to their success in life. No school may properly answer the question 
"Are we contributing the right kind of material to the community?" 
unless it takes the pains to find out what its students actually do 
after the school has ceased to direct them. 

TEACHERS. 

Since California's law requires very high standards for high- 
school teachers, it may be inferred that the scholastic preparation of 
high-school teachers in San Francisco is good. Their experience is 
extended, and a considerable number of them have been teaching for 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 281 

30 years and more. The amount of work done by teachers in all 
high schools, however, measured by the number of periods per day 
they arc busy, is too great unless this represents all the contribution 
which the teacher makes to the school. 

The number of periods of actual classroom instruction a day should 
usually not exceed five per teacher, and no teacher should be required 
to teach more than six periods a day. The North Central Associa- 
tion of Colleges and Secondary Schools, representing institutions in 
14 States of the Mississippi Valley, refuses to accredit any high 
school having more than six recitation periods a day for any teacher. 

There are classes in all the high schools in San Francisco contain- 
ing too many students for effective work. The North Central As- 
sociation recommends 25 students per class as the maximum, and 
maintains that no recitation class should enroll more than 30 students. 

In San Francisco, as shown in Table 45, Chapter II, nearly one- 
half (48.2 per cent) of all the high-school classes reported enroll- 
ment of 31 pupils or more, and nearly one-fourth (23.9 per cent) re- 
ported enrollment of more than 40 pupils each. 

The size of classes should be reduced gradually until the usual 
maximum average attendance does not exceed 25 pupils per class. 
Only in exceptional cases should recitation classes be permitted to 
exceed 30. This policy will undoubtedly lead to improvement in the 
quality of the school work and to a reduction in the proportion of 
student failures. 

PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDE. 

There are indications in all the high schools that proper condi- 
tions for the stimulation of professional spirit and professional 
attitude toward work have not been provided. Teachers report very 
little extended reading of pedagogical literature or attendance at 
educational conventions and membership in State or national 
teachers' associations. There is little or no evidence that group? 
of teachers engaged in the same kind of work (such as English 
teachers, science teachers, and so on) are reading the literature of 
their subject and are attempting to improve their work from month 
to month and from year to year. 

There seems to be a lack of that unity and interest among the 
high-school teachers necessary for a proper esprit de corps and 
the highest success. No indications were found that any effective 
plan has been devised and put into operation to improve the teachers 
in service during their probationary period. This is a most serious 
omission. For the most part, those who have been long in the 
service appear to be content and static. The assurance of holding 
their positions against all odds has probably had very much to do 



282 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

with killing the highest and best kind of professional spirit, as it 
is apt to do for all except those who work altruistically for the good 
of their pupils and for the love of their work. 

If teachers were encouraged to join the high-school teachers' 
association of the State or county, the stimulation, encouragement, 
and sympathetic cooperation which would be thus engendered in 
the high-school faculty would be very great. It would be greater 
still if teachers were sent to State and national educational conven- 
tions and required to make full reports to their colleagues in meet- 
ings held for this purpose. "When the springs of professionalism 
among the teachers have dried up, the pupils who are to be taught 
are very likely to be a thirst." 

The principals, endowed with proper authority, might make of 
their own faculty meetings, which ought to be held at least once 
a month during the school year, such a seminar of interest as would 
certainly, even, if slowly, create a desire among members of the 
faculty to investigate in their own fields the problems confronting 
them, but which have found more or less complete solution in other 
large school systems. 

One of the best' means of arousing the lethargy, deadness, and smug 
satisfaction among a well-prepared and highly contented faculty is 
to induce some of the more nimble-minded of the group to begin some 
kind of experiment to solve a particularly perplexing problem in the 
school. When this problem has been correctly solved and the prin- 
cipal and the teachers are fairly content with the solution, the teacher 
who has been instrumental in this experiment should make a com- 
plete written presentation of the study to the entire faculty and 
have one of the newspapers make a write-up of it to show what may 
be done. This may in turn arouse some one else in the faculty to ask 
for the privilege of making some experiment in another department 
and thus a spirit of inquiry which can not fail to foster professional 
growth will soon pervade the entire school system. 

MORE RESPONSIBILITY FOR PRINCIPALS. 

The authority of the principal should be final on many things 
which concern the faculty, the curricula in the school, the profes- 
sional spirit of the teachers, and the school's community relation- 
ships. The schools of San Francisco seem to be defective in this 
respect. The thing which is most needed among the teachers is big, 
forceful, unshackled leadership with freedom and vision. That is, 
assuming that capable leaders have been selected as principals, with 
broad but clearly defined limits of discretion, responsibility, and au- 
thority, the board of education should keep its hands off and leave 
the principals free within these limits to work out the problems of 
the schools. 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 2,83 

Many of the things referred to as lacking and desirable might 
easily be secured under leadership of this kind. But' principals can 
exercise neither freedom nor vision when they arc conscious of the 
fact that one member of the board of education has final authority 
in one matter, a particular committee of the board in another matter, 
an assistant' or deputy superintendent in another, and the superin- 
tendent in still another. Such division of authority in details tends 
to prevent any earnest preparation for leadership and responsibility 
on the part of principals. 

Under existing conditions, it can not be maintained that the prin- 
cipal of a high school in San Francisco has a fair opportunity to 
work out the progressive ideals which his position as a specialist in 
secondary education should qualify him to formulate, nor a fair 
opportunity to exercise the degree of influence in the councils of the 
school system or the quality of leadership in his own particular field 
of which he is presumably capable. In these respects the city is 
practically in the position of expending a sum of money for a special 
kind of expert service and then declining to receive it. 

COURSE OF STUDY. 

The course of study is one of the most essential factors in the mak- 
ing of a successful high school. The extent and character of the 
progress that has been made in secondary education in America 
during the past few decades is clearly seen by comparing the tradi- 
tional curriculum, the great bulk of which was made up of Latin, 
Greek, and mathematics, with the offering of one of the modern 
cosmopolitan high schools to be found in our larger cities. 

As already noted, the aim of the high school in the early clays in 
this country was the comparatively simple one of preparing for en- 
trance upon the work of the classical course in college. To-day the 
objective sought by the framers of high-school courses of study are 
varied and complex. To the early simple curriculum have been 
added from time to time modern languages, natural science, political 
and social science, fine arts, manual arts, and other subjects, until the 
range of studies has long since passed far beyond the capacities or 
needs of any individual pupil. 

Since no pupil could take all the subjects offered, some plan had 
to be devised to arrange them in groups adapted to the capacities and 
needs of individuals, and designed to accomplish the purposes they 
may have had in entering school. Thus the high school has passed 
through several stages with reference to this feature of the course 
of study: (1) One fixed curriculum, four years in length in its final 
form, attempted by all students alike; (2) two or more fixed cur- 
ricula, four years in length, leading to more or less well-defined 



284 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FKANCISCO. 

goals, one of which must be chosen by the student at the outset; (3) 
two or more curricula, four years in length, one or more of which 
may be fixed, but in one or more of which is introduced the principle 
of choice among certain groups of specified subjects; in each year 
of the course certain subjects are required of the student, while the 
remainder of his program is filled out by choosing from among a 
number of subjects provided in each case; (4) two or more curricula, 
four years in length, in at least one of which the student is left en- 
tirely free to select the studies to be pursued, subject to the approval 
of an adviser, and limited only by the requirements of carrying a 
certain minimum number of subjects and of completing a certain 
number of credits for a diploma; (5) special curricula of less than 
four years in length, designed to meet certain needs which experi- 
ence with students has shown to exist. 

It is to be noted that the evolution of a great variety of courses 
of study has been accompanied or, it may be, facilitated, by the de- 
velopment of a number of types of high schools, such as the manual 
training high school, the commercial high school, and others. In- 
deed, some educators have maintained that special type schools have 
been essential to the successful working out of the experiments which 
have resulted in the present variety of curricula. It is held that the 
conditions necessary for the development of a new type of curricu- 
lum are most easily and surely provided in a separate school. 

On the other hand, there is considerable weight of opinion favor- 
ing the combination of a number of types of curriculum in one 
school, in order to extend the range of choice open to the student, 
after these curricula have thoroughly demonstrated their educational 
value. This is the view held by the survey commission, as outlined in 
Chapter III. 

TENDENCIES IN SAN FRANCISCO, 

There is unmistakable evidence of a trend of development, even 
though very conservative, in the right direction in San Francisco's 
dealings with her high schools. With the increase in high-school 
population, the city has added to the number of high schools until 
there are now five. In at least three cases, following the practice 
then prevailing in many American cities and still more or less influ- 
ential, these schools were planned as type schools, namely, the 
Girls', the Commercial, and the Polytechnic. 

The special typical character of these schools has not always been 
consistently maintained. In the Girls' High School, for example, 
it does not appear that the aim has been to develop a school giving 
special attention to the educational needs of girls and young women, 
as differentiated from those of boys and young men, but rather 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 285 

merely to organize a good high school to which only girls are ad- 
mitted as students. In the country as a whole there has been very 
little popular demand for a policy of separating the sexes in either 
elementary or secondary schools. If there exists any justification for 
a separate public high school for girls, it is to be found in the 
desirability of providing an institution in which the problems of 
preparing girls for homemaking, motherhood, and other functions 
peculiar to womanhood may receive such special attention as is not 
possible or practicable in the usual coeducational school. In the 
opinion of the survey commission this justification does not exist. 

It may be assumed that preparation for all those functions of 
life in which men and women participate in common (such as wage- 
earning, leisure, social intercourse) may be given to boys and girls 
in the same high school just as effectively as in separate schools. In 
all cases of special subjects which are sought by one sex only (such 
as blacksmithing or millinery), or in which it is desirable for any 
reason that the sexes recite in separate classes, separate recitatiou 
classes can be easily provided. 

REVISION OF COURSES OF STUDY. 

The desirability of modifying the policy of maintaining type high 
schools was clearly recognized by the board of education, though 
without special reference to the girls' high school in a report adopted 
July 2, 1913. 1 In this report the announcement was made (p. 11) 
that the distinctive features of the existent type high schools are to 
be abandoned to some extent by gradually introducing into all 
schools, except where equipment prohibits, as many as possible of 
the foundational subjects of the first two years, but continuing a 
certain amount of specialization in each school as heretofore in the 
third and fourth years. This statement was supplemented by the 
announcement of an " interlocking system " among the high schools, 
in accordance with which it was to be made possible for a student 
to register simultaneously in two schools and thus to participate in 
the benefits of the opportunity for a wider choice of subjects. 

These two provisions constitute a commendable step forward and 
are evidence of a wise determination to extend the benefits and 
facilities of the high schools. For financial and other reasons the 
board has necessarily been very conservative in putting the new 
policy into execution, and many practical difficulties have obstructed 
the operation of the interlocking system, so that, in fact, not so much 
progress has been made as conditions really demand. The inter- 
locking system, so far as its actual operation was observed, can be 

1 Course of Study for the San Francisco High Schools. 1913. Part I. 



286 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

regarded only as a temporary and inefficient device designed to re- 
lieve conditions which should be modified fundamentally. 

The result of the study made by the survey commission has been 
to confirm the opinion that further progress must be made in the 
reorganization of the high schools along the lines already laid down 
by the board of education and otherwise to the end that each school 
shall offer the widest possible choice of studies. As indicated else- 
where in this report, in the discussion of the cosmopolitan high 
school, this policy is not inconsistent with the plan of allowing to 
each school a certain degree of specialization or emphasis on certain 
lines of work, especially in the third and fourth years of the course. 

The desirability of organizing one or more junior high schools 
is discussed elsewhere in this chapter as well as in Chapter III. 

UNIFORMITY OF CURRICULA. 

Since the young people of high-school age are to live in a democ- 
racy, it is vital that the association during their secondary school 
period should be as similar as possible to the life associations which 
are to follow the school career. It is for these reasons that, in the 
construction of the school curricula, we recommend that they shall 
be substantially uniform in all high schools for the first two years 
of work, and that no privilege in a curriculum in one school shall 
be denied a student in another school. At the close of the first two 
years of such curricula there may be given opportunity, under fac- 
ulty direction, to pursue with some degree of specialization the lines 
of work indicated by the particular talent manifested during the 
first two years. 

It is clear that it is not necessary that the curricula in one city shall 
be identical with the curricula in another city, but that they shall 
possess a degree of uniformity in the same city seems to be as es- 
sential for the high schools as for the elementary schools. 

These statements mean that what has been described in San Fran- 
cisco as "an all-inclusive course of study" should be offered in each 
of the high schools of San Francisco. It means further, that the 
high-school district, created under the recommendation of this re- 
port, may, in response to the industrial or social or commercial needs 
of that district, emphasize one phase of the curriculum and mini- 
mize another phase of the curriculum, and that in so doing, the 
curriculum may respond to the greatest and highest need of that 
particular district and community. Unless the curricula are fairly 
uniform and unless they are all-inclusive, there is great danger of 
developing unpleasant class distinctions and stratification of groups 
and a real social cleavage in the total high-school body of the city. 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 287 

All such results are regarded as disastrous and antagonistic to the 
highest welfare of a democratic society. 

As indicated in another paragraph, art, in its completest sense, 
music, dramatics, physical education in its completest sense, the rec- 
ognition and direction of athletics and social life, should be made as 
much a part of the real curriculum of the high school as English or 
science or history. 

The high-school life is peculiarly the period of self-expression, 
and all the activities mentioned and others, which give opportunity 
under professional direction for self-expression, make their contribu- 
tion to the highest and best development of the citizen of the com- 
munity. Means of self-expression developed out of dramatics, art, 
music, physical education, and other lines of expression are fre- 
quently the avenues along which the most remarkable latent talent 
among pupils may be developed. It is out of these beginnings dur- 
ing the reticent and often bashful period of adolescence that great 
talent later recognized by the State and the Nation comes. When 
we read the early biography of the statesman, the actor, the artist, 
the musician, and the general, we so frequently find that the talent 
for these various lines of activity was discovered, developed, and 
inspired in some measure during the adolescent period of life. How 
important, then, is it that this great public-school organization 
should make a serious and continued effort to discover and direct 
all such latent talents. 

Inasmuch as the curricula in actual operation in the high schools 
of San Francisco do not seem to have been worked out with any 
special reference to the industrial, commercial, and manufacturing 
life of the city, it is suggested that in the further development of 
plans these factors, together with others dominant in the community, 
shall be carefully considered. 

COMMENDABLE FEATURES NOTED. 

The report of the board of education of July 2, 1913, referred to 
above, contains a number of commendable and progressive features 
in addition to those already pointed out. Of these the following 
may be noted particularly: 

(1) Eecognition of the necessity, in planning high-school courses, 
of providing for a variety of aims on the part of the student body. 
The plan as announced proposes to meet the needs of (a) pupils 
who expect to end their schooling with the completion of the high- 
school course: (h) pupils who are uncertain about further schooling 
and who wish to defer decision as late as possible; {c) pupils who 
expect to continue their schooling beyond the high school ■; (d) pupils 
who can give no more than one or two years to high-school attendance. 



288 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 



(2) Recognition of the elective principle in planning four-year 
programs for students. In carrying out this policy the requirements 
for graduation are outlined in general terms, and include the follow- 
ing: 

Prescribed major, the equivalent of one study reciting daily for four years, 
consisting of three years of English and one year of United States history and 
civics; 32 hours. 

Elective major, the equivalent of one study daily for four years, consisting 
of four years' work in any single department ; 32 hours. 

Alternative minor, the equivalent of one study daily for two years, either 
language or mathematics; 16 hours. 

Elective minor, the equivalent of one study daily for two years, consisting of 
two years' work in any single department ; 16 hours. 

Elective, the equivalent of two studies daily for four years ; 64 hours. 

Total, 160 hours, of which at least 40 hours must consist of " advanced sub- 
jects." 

(3) Arrangement of studies in curricula, or "groups," as sugges- 
tions for the assistance of pupils in planning their work to accom- 
plish certain definite ends. 

(4) Tentative inauguration of a "continuation plan," by which 
students are permitted to register for half-day sessions to continue 
their education while engaged in wage-earning employment during 
the remainder of the regular school session. 

DISTRIBUTION OF FACILITIES. 



" groups," 



The program of studies provides seven curricula, or 
of which five cover four years of work and meet the requirements for 
graduation, noted above. Two are special commercial-industrial 
courses, two years and one year in length. The distribution of these 
curricula among the five high schools is shown in Table 135c. 



Table 135c. — Assignment of curricula or " groups " to the high schools. 



Curricula. 



Com- 
merce. 



Girls'. 



Lowell. 



Mission 



Poly- 
technic. 



A.. General (free election). 

B. Optional (limited election) 

C. Occupational (technical, scientific, or commercial). 

D. College of science, preparatory 

E. Inclusive college, preparatory 

F. Two years commercial-industrial 

G. One-year commercial-industrial 



From this table it appears that only two of the seven curricula are 
offered in all high schools: (1) The optional group, which is "de- 
signed to give thorough preparation for life to students who prob- 
ably will not go to college but who may finally so decide; " (2) the 
occupational group, which is " designed to give thorough preparation 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 



289 



to students who plan to enter the technical world whether or not 
through the medium of a college course." 

It is definitely implied that a student may prepare for college 
under the provisions of either of these curricula in any one of the 
five high schools. Notwithstanding, of the two curricula which are 
designated as college preparatory, one is offered at two schools only 
and one at three. 

The particular studies or departments in which work may be pur- 
sued is determined by the distribution of these departments among 
the five high schools. Since every student who registers in a four- 
year course is required to take English, United States history, and 
civics as a prescribed sequence of studies, these studies are offered in 
all high schools. The remaining studies, classed as elective majors, 
are assigned to the schools according to a plan of distribution shown 
in Table 135d. 

Table 135d. — Assignment of elective majors to high schools. 



Elective majors. 


Com- 
merce. 


Girls'. 


Lowell. 


Mission. 


Poly- 
technic. 


1, Latin 




1 


1 

2 


1 




2. Greek-. 






3. French 


3 
4 
5 


3 

4 


3 

4 


3 


4. German 




4 


5. Spanish 




5 


6. History : 


6 


6 


6 




7. Commercial histor y 


7 




8. Mathematics 


8 
9 
10 


8 
9 
10 


8 
9 


8 


9. Natural science 




9 


10. Fine arts 






11. Drafting 




11 


11 


12. Mechanical arts 








12 


13. Applied mathematics 








13 

14 

1 15 

16 
17 

18 


13 


14. Industrial chemistry 








14 


15. Domestic science 




115 

16 




»15 


16. Applied arts 






16 


17. Boo-keeping 


17 

18 






18. Stenography, typewriting 

















1 Sewing. 



* Sewing and cooking. 



This table shows that Latin is offered in three schools and Greek 
in one, while some modern foreign language is offered in four 
schools; that mathematics and natural science are offered in four 
schools and fine arts in two only ; that mechanical drafting is offered 
in but two schools, while mechanical shop subjects are restricted to 
one ; that cooking and sewing are offered in one school and sewing in 
two others; that bookkeeping and stenography and typewriting may 
be had in two schools only. 



NEEDED CHANGES IN CURRICULA. 



The aims which have been set up by the board of education in the 
course of study referred to are commendable, so far as they go, and 
the changes most needed are those which will make the schools more 

93815—17 19 



290 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FRANCISCO. 

effective in realizing these aims. More liberal financial support of 
high schools, which will make possible adequate teaching forces and 
suitable equipment for the reorganized courses of study, is a neces- 
sary corrollary of the suggestions made herein. The financial prob- 
lem is discussed further in Chapter IV. 

The changes needed, so far as they relate to the course of study, 
may be summarized as follows : 

(1) The practical benefits of the so-called "all-inclusive" course 
of study should be made available to students in each high school. 
This involves the abandonment of the "interlocking system among 
schools " in so far as it requires students to register simultaneously 
in two schools in order to secure a complete course. 

(2) At least one modern foreign language should be offered in 
each high school, and each school should be prepared to offer a second 
language if there is sufficient demand to justify it. 

(3) As recommended in other chapters in this report, elective 
courses should be offered in each high school in free-hand drawing 
and design, and in music, including band, orchestra, and choral 
singing. 

(4) The courses in science should be strengthened and extended, 
especially the social sciences. To the latter very little attention is 
now given. In three schools only an elementary course in economics 
is offered as an elective in the junior year. Aside from this nothing 
is done in this important field. See also Chapter IX. 

(5) Strong courses in shop work and drafting for boys, home eco- 
nomics for girls, and commercial courses for both boys and girls, 
should be offered in each high school. The polytechnic high school 
and the commercial high school should continue to emphasize these 
special fields, and one high school might be permitted to emphasize 
courses designed especially for girls. 

DIRECTING STUDENTS IN CHOICE OE SCHOOL WORK. 

Little or no effort seems to be made in San Francisco to direct the 
pupils in their choice of work when entering high school, or to aid 
them to select a proper curriculum after they have chosen their 
work. A valuable service might be rendered the pupils of the high 
schools if the faculty of each school were divided into groups or 
committees for this purpose. 

One plan is to divide the faculty into eight groups or committees, 
one for each Jialf-year of the four-years' course. Whenever the fac- 
ulty is large enough, each committee may have representatives actu- 
ally teaching classes in all four years of the course. At the beginning 
of each half of the school year one of these committees is assigned 
as an advisory committee to all students entering at that date. The 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 291 

plan provides that this advisory relation shall continue uninter- 
ruptedly, the committee and this particular group of students being 
associated through the entire four years of the course. 

Each committee should discuss with the pupils of its group the 
courses of study offered by the schools, the industries and the life 
of the city, and the preparation needed for them, and the aims of 
these young people in coming to school ; and should help the students 
to plan their courses of study. 

The continuity of this relationship will bring it about that each 
class will have a group of faculty sponsors with a feeling of special 
interest in and responsibility for the pupils of that class. A record 
should be kept of all the conferences of the sponsors with the stu- 
dents. In this way a fund of valuable and available information 
about the class as a whole and about the individual members of the 
class may be accumulated. Personal interest may thus be developed 
which will bind both teachers and pupils more firmly to the school, 
enable teachers to do their work with greater devotion and pleasure, 
and tend to keep a larger number of pupils in school till graduation. 

DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL SPIRIT. 

In the development of the proper kind of school spirit among 
the students, as in so many other features of the successful high 
school, everything depends on the principal and on the earnest 
cooperation and support of colleagues who understand and are in 
thorough sympathy with his ideals. In the opinion of many edu- 
cators, the more or less informal agencies which may be utilized 
for the encouragement and direction of school spirit have a place 
and an influence in the formation of character no less important 
than the formal exercises of classroom, shop, and laboratory. In 
all of these the personal influence of principal and teacher counts in 
ways not often fully appreciated and to an extent not easily measured. 

Among these informal agencies may be mentioned the conferences 
between students and advisers, occasional assemblies of students and 
faculty, public programs rendered by students, interschool contests 
in debate, basket ball, baseball, football, swimming, military drill, 
and rifle practice. All of these may be utilized under favorable 
conditions to promote the best type of school spirit, or they may 
be neglected and allowed to do more harm than good. 

In addition to these and other agencies, the organization of bands 
and orchestras in the high schools, with good leaders and city sup- 
port, would express and foster a kind of school and community 
interest hardly possible otherwise. These bands and orchestras 
should appear in assemblies of pupils once a week or oftener, when 
public programs are rendered by students, and when school teams of 



292 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

various kinds are brought together from the several schools in the 
city for a central contest. Contests among bands, orchestras, and 
glee clubs are just as beneficial as are contests in debate, athletics, 
or military drill. They react upon the school and upon the people 
of the school district, and contribute to the school life something 
which other organizations and other lines of activity can not. 

Social and community organizations meeting in the school, and 
in which pupils from the school participate, also contribute to the 
development of school and community spirit. 

The impression gained by members of the survey commission with 
reference to the use of these agencies for the development of school 
spirit was disappointing. Little evidence of the best type of school 
spirit was found among the pupils in any of the high schools. 
Whether this lack is due to the overloading of principals and 
teachers or to indifference to the possibilities involved, it is un- 
fortunate that a concerted effort is not made to develop that fine 
spirit of earnest enthusiasm which might easily characterize every 
one of these schools. 

COMMUNITY CENTERS. 

Every high school in the city should be a community center. The 
auditoriums, the lunch rooms, and other school equipment should 
be at the service of parents when they come together in the schools 
which their children attend to discuss questions of common interest 
to pupils, teachers, and parents and questions ralating to the civic 
life of city, State, and Nation. Only one school — the Polytechnic 
High School— is now functioning in this way. 

SOCIAL LIFE OF THE HIGH SCHOOL. 

The social life of the school should be festered by the faculty and 
directed by the dean of women. It should be made a real social 
life. Opportunities for social intercourse should be made or found 
during the school day, immediately after its close, and occasionally in 
the evening. Such social intercourse between boys and girls under 
proper direction satisfies a kind of social longing, which, if not 
satisfied under proper direction, will seek and find satisfaction under 
misdirection. The modern city home does not function socially so 
fully as did country and village homes of former generations, and 
the cities are filled with dance halls and other places of cheap amuse- 
ment and of doubtful morality. The school must therefore supple- 
ment the social life of the home and counteract the attractions of 
cheap and doubtful commercial entertainment. 

The dean of women and the principal and other members of the 
high-school faculty must do much that was done by fathers and 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 293 

mothers when life was less complex and artificial and the home 
occupied a place of much greater relative importance than it now 
does. 

The dean of women should be chosen with great care. She should 
be a woman of large experience and possessed of real interest in 
young men and women; a woman of mature years but still in sym- 
pathy with the spirit of youth. Such a woman can have great 
influence on the character and conduct of high-school girls and 
easily correct almost all improprieties in their conduct, conversa- 
tion, and dress. The personality of the dean is most important. 
The responsiveness of adolescent girls will be in proportion to the 
warmth of sympathy and generous interest of the dean. The same 
principle applies in the relation of boys to the principal. At present 
there seems to be comparatively little social life in the high schools 
and little effective direction of what there is. 

The dean of women and the principal acting as dean of men 
should cultivate close personal, intimate relations with the pupils; 
should know their ambitions and their purposes and something of 
their homes and the conditions under which they do their school 
work away from school. Such relations and such knowledge form a 
basis for a wise and sympathetic direction and help that can not 
be had in any other way. 

The principal and the dean of women should have rooms properly 
equipped for receiving and conferring with boys and girls on ques- 
tions peculiar to the development of adolescent life, and these rooms 
should be so private that personal interviews in them may be as 
private and sacred as if conducted by parents in their homes. The 
rooms placed at the disposal of the dean of women should include a 
rest room for girls, and every school should be provided with suit- 
able first-aid equipment. 

The work suggested here for the dean of women and for the prin- 
cipal acting as dean of men is not a part of the formal curriculum, 
and boys and girls are not to be graded and examined on any part 
of it; but the education of young men and young women is not com- 
plete by any means if it is confined simply to the information and 
training given in classrooms, libraries, and shops. The close personal 
relations and the consequent sincerity and freedom of intercourse 
between deans and the boys and girls can not be overestimated. 
"Education is life," and whenever any part of life is omitted in 
what we call "education," there can hardly fail to be subtraction 
from life itself. 

No dean of women was found in any of the high schools of San 
Francisco, nor any woman teacher definitely charged with this rela- 
tionship to girl students; nor does it appear that any principal, or 



294 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

any other member of the faculty of any of the schools, is freed from 
other duties sufficiently to enable him to perform in any effective and 
sympathetic way the functions of a dean for boys. 

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

1. The number of high schools reporting to the Bureau of Educa- 
tion increased nearly three times as rapidly as the total population 
during the period 1890 to 1915, indicating a great popularization of 
high-school education. 

2. Compared with other cities in the same population class, San 
Francisco has not shared proportionately in the movement for the 
expansion of public high-school facilities which is characteristic of 
the country as a whole. 

3. The realization of the ideal of a high-school education for 
practically every normal boy and girl is now believed by many to 
be a reasonable object of endeavor. 

4. For the great majority of boys and girls the completion of the 
high-school course represents the final limit of attendance upon day 
school, under existing conditions. Consequently, the high school 
should address itself to the task of discovering the ways in which it 
may render the maximum service to all boys and girls in their 
efforts to prepare for useful and satisfying careers in many different 
directions. 

5. The important features of a successful high school are: (a) An 
adequate building; (b) ample equipment; (c) varied courses of 
study; (d) adequate and efficient teaching force; (e) efficient admin- 
istrative machinery; (/) provision for the physical and social wel- 
fare of students and faculty; (g) inspiring leadership. As has been 
shown in this chapter: (a) The high-school buildings in San Fran- 
cisco are poorly located, and are inadequate in number and in facili- 
ties provided; (b) the equipment is meager; (c) the courses of study 
are varied for the city as a whole, but restricted as to the individual 
student; (d) the teaching forces are inadequate; (e) there is no effi- 
cient administrative machinery; (/) the physical and social welfare 
of students and faculty are largely neglected; (g) existing condi- 
tions are not favorable to the provision of inspiring leadership. 

6. The school authorities in San Francisco are to be commended 
for the adoption and announcement of the following progressive 
program with reference to the high-school courses of study : 

a. Proposed abandonment of the principle of " type " high schools, 
and introduction into all schools of as many as possible of the foun- 
dational subjects of the first two years. 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 295 

b. Virtual acceptance of the principle of the cosmopolitan cur- 
riculum, as indicated by the attempt to make its advantages available 
to every student through an " interlocking system." 

c. Eecognition of the necessity of providing for a variety of aims 
on the part of the student body. 

d. Recognition of the' elective system in planning four-year pro- 
grams for students. 

e. Arrangement of studies in curricula, or "groups," as sugges- 
tions for the assistance of pupils in planning their work to accom- 
plish certain definite ends. 

/. Tentative inauguration of a "continuation plan," by which 
students are permitted to register for half-day sessions to continue 
their education while engaged in wage-earning employment during 
the remainder of the regular school session. 

7. In the actual administration of this program, however, it is 
noted that: (a) The high schools are not so located as to provide 
equality of educational opportunity to all sections of the city; (b) 
only two of the seven curricula are offered in all high schools; (c) 
some important groups of elective subjects are offered in only one 
or two schools; (d) in actual practice the "interlocking system 
among schools" has not secured for students the advantages ex- 
pected of it. 

8. Needed changes in the course of study are: (a) The actual 
benefits of the " all-inclusive " course of study should be made avail- 
able to students in each high school; (b) at least one modern foreign 
language in each high school, and a second language if demanded; 
(c) elective courses in each high school in free-hand drawing and 
design, and music ; (d) courses in science strengthened and extended, 
especially social science; (e) strong courses in shop work and draft- 
ing for boys, home economics for girls, and commercial subjects for 
both boys and girls in each high school. 

9. In the revision of high-school courses of study due considera- 
tion should be given to desirable adjustments to the industrial, com- 
mercial, and manufacturing life of the city. 

10. It is not necessary that the differentiation in the curriculum 
shall be carried out in the same way in any two schools. In any 
school differentiation should be according to definite and predomi- 
nating needs of the district in which the school is located. Greater 
differentiation may be made in the last two years. Should the 
schools of San Francisco be reorganized on the six-three-three plan, 
this principle of uniformity and differentiation should be applied: 
Greater uniformity in the junior high schools and more differentia- 
tion in the senior high schools. 

11. Needed changes in material facilities require that additional 
buildings be erected at an early date on the land adjoining the 



296 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

High School of Commerce and the Mission High School, and that 
new buildings be provided as early as possible for high schools needed 
in Richmond and North Beach. The new schools should at first be 
junior high schools and should be gradually developed into senior 
high schools. 

12. High-school districts should be formed with more definite 
boundaries, following the establishment of high schools in other parts 
of the city. 

13. Both boys and girls should be admitted to all high schools. 
The great majority of high schools in the United States are coeduca- 
tional, and the preponderance of opinion of educators favors the edu- 
cation of boys and girls in the same school. In high schools in a 
city as large as San Francisco it is easy to separate boys and girls 
in classes when thought advisable for any reason, and to provide 
separate courses of study in such subjects as are of especial interest 
to either sex. The survey commission did not find that anything 
is gained by the segregation of girls in the Girls' High School. This 
segregation does, however, give rise to many inconveniences and 
loss of much of educational value. 

14. Each high school should have a good reference library in 
charge of a trained librarian. There should be ample appropriation 
for the purchase of reference books. 

15. High-school buildings not provided with individual lockers 
for pupils should have such provision made at once. 

16. Evening schools should be opened in all the high-school build- 
ings, with adequate provision for faculty, equipment, and supplies. 

17. A stenographer clerk should be furnished the principal's office 
in each high school enrolling 500 pupils or less, and a stenographer 
clerk and a record clerk for the principal's office in each high school 
enrolling more than 500 pupils. In each case suitable office equip- 
ment should be provided also. The principal of the high school 
should not be required to be a record clerk or to spend his time in 
letter writing and answering and operating the telephone, but should 
be free to give all of his time to his professional duties. 

18. All high schools should be required to keep uniform record 
blanks of all kinds, and permanent student records, together with 
card catalogues of graduates. In the card catalogues should be kept 
an accurate record of all students for at least 10 years after gradua- 
tion. Only in this way will it be possible to determine whether the 
high school is really meeting the needs of the public. 

19. The amount of work done by teachers in all the high schools, 
measured by the number of periods per day they are busy, is too 
great, and many classes contain too many students for effective work. 

20. The number of teachers should be increased to such an extent 
that the usual number of daily periods of classroom instruction per 



THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 297 

teacher shall not exceed five, and no teacher should be required to in- 
struct more than six classes a day. This is quite generally recog- 
nized as a maximum limit beyond which the best work can not be 
done. 

21. The size of classes should be reduced gradually until the usual 
maximum average attendance does not exceed 25 pupils per class. 
Only in exceptional cases should recitation classes be permitted to 
exceed 30. 

22. A professional spirit among the teachers should be encouraged, 
and principals and heads of departments should be given the au- 
thority necessary for the encouragement and direction of such a 
spirit. Eeports as to membership in associations, attendance on 
State, county, and national conferences, and other evidences indi- 
cate that there is at present very little real professional spirit among 
the high-school teachers. 

23. An increase should be made in the salary schedule of high- 
school teachers so as to encourage study, travel, and participation in 
teachers' associations and other means of stimulating professional 
growth. The salaries of high-school teachers as compared with the 
salaries of teachers in the elementary schools are much lower in San 
Frarfcisco than in other California and coast cities. The city should 
have a high-school teachers' association, and membership in this 
should be made a part of the obligation in the contract with high- 
school teachers, and interest in it should be regarded as one of the 
elements determining promotion in position and salary. 

24. High-school principals should be given more responsibility 
and more authority. Assuming that capable leaders have been se- 
lected as principals, with broad but clearly defined limits of discre- 
tion, responsibility, and authority, they should be given freedom 
within these limits to work out the problems of the schools. 

25. In each high school the principal and each head of a depart- 
ment, subject to the approval of the superintendent, should be 
charged with the direction and work of that department. 

26. In each high school there should be advisory committees, ap- 
pointed by the principal, for the purpose of assisting students in the 
choice of studies and in giving them such special help as they may 
need later. 

27. In each high school there should be a dean of women, and a 
physical director. These should be responsible to the principal of 
the school, and their work should be assigned by the principal under 
the direction of the superintendent. 

28. The social life of the school should be definitely fostered by 
the faculty and directed by the dean of women. 



298 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

29. The dean of women and the principal, acting as dean of men, 
should function in the life of the school in many positive and helpful 
-ways. 

30. Effort should be made to utilize the various informal agencies 
available for the encouragement of a more positive type of desirable 
school spirit among the students and for the development of that 
fine spirit of earnest enthusiasm which might easily characterize 
•every one of these high schools. 

31. A community center should be organized at each high school. 



Chapter IX. 

CIVIC EDUCATION. 



INTRODUCTION. 



I. THE NEED OF CIVIC EDUCATION. 



Citizenship is inevitable for every man, woman, and child in our 
country, excepting only the unnaturalized foreign-born. Of the lat- 
ter, the great majority will sooner or later take the legal steps neces- 
sary to admit them to full citizenship, while even the alien within our 
boundaries enjoys most of the rights and is subject to many of the 
obligations of the native-born citizen. In the San Francisco schools 
many school children were found, between the ages of 12 and 16, 
who, because of a wrong conception of what the word means, did not 
<even know that they were citizens. 

Civic education is as inevitable as citizenship itself. The lad who 
knows no school but the streets, and the immigrant who is almost 
ignored except by those who would exploit him, are having the 
character of their citizenship moulded unceasingly by the experiences 
of their daily life. It is far less what the child or the immigrant is 
taught than what he sees and experiences in the conditions and con- 
duct of the community about him that determines the character of 
his citizenship. To what extent is the community organizing its 
civic educational forces to raise the plane of its "civic conditions, 
civic habits, and civic ideals," and to develop an increasingly efficient 
citizenship ? 

The efficient performance of one's part as a citizen requires prepa- 
ration or training. We are just now being awakened to this fact 
with respect to the foreigners who come to our shores. The need is 
no less urgent for the training of those who are citizens for the effi- 
cient exercise and for the enjoyment of the citizenship which they 
nave possessed from birth. 

While only a part of the responsibility for civic education rests 
upon the public schools, that part is extremely vital. "The final 
justification of public taxation for public education lies in the train- 
ing of young people for citizenship." It can not be doubted that the 
net influence of the public school has constantly made for a better 

299 



300 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

citizenship ; but the increasing complexity of community life and the- 
tendency toward a more complete social and political democracy give 
to this work of the school a new importance. 

Like other cities, San Francisco furnishes abundant evidence of 
the reality and urgency of the need for civic education. Various 
answers may be given, for example, to the question implied in the 
school survey, " What is the matter with the public schools?" What- 
ever else may be the matter, radical defects in the organization and 
administration of a public agency so vitally important could not 
long exist if the civic interest and intelligence of the people, whose 
agency the schools are, were fully awake. On the other hand, if the 
schools are all right, there are many who manifest a degree of misin- 
formation about them wholly inconsistent with efficient citizenship. 

The questions that immediately concern us are : 

1. What constitutes effective civic education? 

2. Are the schools of San Francisco doing all that they can, and 
all that the community has a right to expect of them, in the per- 
formance of their function in this respect? 

3. Is San Francisco affording favorable conditions and adequate 
cooperation for the accomplishment by the schools of their civic- 
educational work? 

II. WHAT IS EFFECTIVE CIVIC EDUCATION? 

Civic education, like moral education, is really an aspect of edu- 
cation as a whole rather than a mere segment of it. For the purposes 
of this survey, however, it is conceived to embrace all organized effort 
designed to cultivate an understanding of the civic relations of com- 
munity life, and to develop qualities and habits of good citizenship. 

In the chapter on " The Trend of Civic Education " in the Report 
of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1914, the fol- 
lowing aims of civic education are stated : 

I. Civic intelligence, which includes: (1) Civic knowledge; (2) power to 
organize civic knowledge in relation to one's own experience; (3) judgment 
when confronted by a civic situation or by a choice of methods of meeting such 
situation. 

II. Adequate motives: (1) For civic education itself; (2) for proper civic 
conduct. 

III. Qualities of good citizenship, such as: (1) A sense of personal responsi- 
bility for community welfare; (2) power of initiative in civic action; (3) a 
spirit and habit of cooperation, etc. 

In San Francisco this statement of aims was presented to at least* 
50 principals and teachers in three conferences, and to many indi- 
viduals within and without the schools. There was no dissent. It 
seemed fair, therefore, to inquire whether these aims are being ac- 
complished in the schools of the city. This is especially so since the 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 301 

aims here stated conform in general, also, with those given in the 
printed course of study as we shall see later. In the analysis of the 
civic-educational work of the San Francisco schools, therefore, the 
following questions were constantly kept in mind and formed the 
basis for judgment: 1 

1. To what extent is the pupil helped to organize his existing fund of civic 
information which he has previously acquired by observation and otherwise? 

2. To what extent do the pupil's past experience and his present (as well as 
future) interests and needs determine the selection and organization of the 
subject matter of instruction? 

3. To what extent does the school provide the pupil with adequate motives 
for his own civic education and for efficient participation in civic activity? 

4. To what extent does the school cultivate civic initiative? 

5. To what extent does the school cultivate the pupil's judgment with refer- 
ence to actual civic situations and methods of dealing with them? 

6. To what extent does the school cultivate in the pupil a spirit and habit 
of cooperation? 

III. THE SCOPE OF THE INQUIRY. 

There are two main channels through which the school influences 
the present and future citizenship of the young citizens in its care: 
(1) The course of study; (2) the social contacts and activities of the 
pupils. 

The course of study in the San Francisco schools provides specifi- 
cally for instruction in " civics," whose subject matter pertains directly 
and exclusively to citizenship and government. This subject, how- 
ever, is one of a group of " social studies," including history, geog- 
raphy, economics, etc., all of which afford opportunity for more or 
less direct civic instruction. Then there are the remaining subjects 
of the curriculum, the relation of whose subject matter to civic life 
is more or less remote and often apparently negligible. 

Civic education is as much a matter of habit formation as of in- 
struction. Activity thus becomes not only the end, but also an essen- 
tial means, of civic education. How far do the schools organize and 
direct the associated activities of their pupils as an integral part of 
their civic training? Pupil activities may be grouped as (1) activi- 
ties within the school and (2) activities outside of the school, but 
which may be more or less organized by the school, or at least uti- 
lized by it, as a means of civic training. 

The work of both elementary and secondary schools through these 
two main channels has been given consideration in this report. In 
addition, a brief survey has been made of the evening schools, the 
civic education of the foreigner,* the community center, the public 
library, and the parents' association. 

, * For further discussion of such tests as those suggested here see U. S. Bu. of Educ, 
Bui., 191G, No. 28, pp. 57, 58; also Bui,, 1915, No. 23, pp. 13, 14. 



302 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FRANCISCO. 
CIVIC EDUCATION BY INSTRUCTION. 
A. ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 

I. The course of study. — The school law of California requires all 
teachers " to endeavor to impress upon the minds of the pupils the 
principles of morality, truth, justice, and patriotism * * * and 
to. instruct them in the principles of a free government, and to train 
them up to a true comprehension of the rights, duties, and dignity of 
American citizenship." It also requires that "instruction must be 
given in the * * * history of the United States and civil gov- 
ernment." 

Accordingly, the latest course of study for the elementary schools 
of San Francisco (published in 1911 and amended in 1915) includes 
a course in " history and civics " for Grades IV-VIIT. A brief sum- 
mary of this course follows : 

History. — In the fourth grade biographical stories from American history are 
presented orally and supplemented by reading from books of pioneer and co- 
lonial life, etc. Local history is to occupy a prominent' place, and is readily 
correlated with the general history from the days of Spanish exploration down 
to the time of California statehood. 

In the first half of the fifth grade " special emphasis upon the hero story " 
is noted in the form of " supplementary reading." Beginning with the middle 
of this grade and running through the first half of the sixth Wallach's " His- 
torical and Biographical Narratives " is recommended as the basic text. This 
work is " intended to give the pupils a view of general history in preparation 
for the later, more systematic study of the history of their own country." 
" Topics should be treated fully enough to awaken the lasting interest of the 
pupils in great deeds and their doers." 

With the second half of the sixth grade, American history is taken up system- 
atically with a text and carried through the seventh and first half of the- 
eighth grades. 

Civics. — Until the eighth grade, civics is wholly incidental to the history 
study. A " supplementary " text is referred to occasionally. The nature of 
the work intended is suggested by the following quotations from the course of 
study : 

" History gives the personalities and situations which constitute the embodi- 
ment of the best civic principles. Wherever the material gives a situation 
where some individual has performed or failed to perform his noblest part to 
the advantage or disadvantage of his country and his fellow men, the civic- 
principle involved should be pointed out and discussed." 

" Bring to the attention of the children by talks and discussions some of the 
easily understood principles of government, such as the meaning of the word 
government and the necessity for some form of it; the family and its govern- 
ment ; the schoolroom and its government ; the playground and its government." 

" * * * the idea of a city and its government ; of a State and its govern- 
ment ; of the government of our country ; titles and names of the chief officer 
in each of the three." 

11 In connection with the chapter on the Revolution, discuss the following 
topics in simple form : Who makes the laws and by what right ; the right of the 
King and Parliament to govern America ; the State governments of the free - 



cmc EDUCATION. 30& 

Colonies and why they joined in a National Government * * *. Under the 
Constitution discuss * * *: How the western country was formed into 
States; nationalism vs. sectionalism; our relations to our island possessions; 
reclamation and conservation." 

"The sacrifice of special interest to general good in the Constitutional Con- 
vention ; Jefferson's theories of government ; international law ; the meaning of; 
the Monroe doctrine ; Clay, Adams, Jackson, Webster, etc., as patriots." 

" Lessons of patriotism from the Civil War ; immigration ; pauperism ; educa- 
tion; the tariff; America as a world power; the trusts; conservation and 
reclamation ; pure-food acts ; socialism ; the peace movement ; quarantine 
regulations — State and Federal." 

In the eighth grade civics becomes a separate subject with a basic text. The 
following main topics are given in the course of study : 

"The beginning of a community; what is a community? the site of a com- 
munity ; what the people in communities are seeking ; the family and its services 
to the community ; the making of Americans ; the relations between the people 
and the land ; the protection of health, life, and property ; the relation between* 
the citizen and the community in business life ; government and business life ; 
waste and saving ; transportation and communication ; education ; civic beauty ; 
what the community does for those who can not or will not contribute to its. 
progress; how the citizens govern themselves; some defects in the self-govern- 
ment of communities ; the government of rural communities ; the government 
of the city ; the government of the State ; the Government of the Nation ; how 
the expenses of government are met." 

In the introduction to the 1915 " Outline of Courses of Study " it 
is stated : " This is a minimum course of study and does not preclude 
any teacher from doing more work, suitable to her own grade, if her 
class shows the ability. Such additional work, however, must not be 
in lieu of anything herein required. Principals are required to en- 
force this course of study in their respective schools and teachers are 
to follow it. 

II. Eighth-grade civics. — As a rule civics is not taught as a sepa- 
rate subject until the second half of the eighth grade, a daily recita- 
tion then being devoted to it. Occasionally it is extended over the 
entire year on alternate days with United States history. In one 
case observed, instead of a daily 25-minute recitation each in geogra- 
phy and civics, a 40-minute daily period is given to geography one 
week, and an equal time to civics in the following week, the two 
subjects thus alternating weekly throughout the term. The purpose 
is to secure greater concentration upon each subject while it is 
under consideration. 

1. Aim* and Ttvethods. — In the 1911 course of stud}' it is stated 
that— 

The purpose of civics is to give the children definite and concrete ideas and. 
standards of conduct controlling the social relations of men and women. 
Further, its purpose is to stimulate such observation and analysis of social 
situations that some heightened power to form independent personal opinions 
shall be given, a power which is demanded of every person by a democratic 
government and socioH-. Civics, particularly in the eighth ^rade. is a splendid 



304 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 

opportunity for applying to life situations much that has been learned in the 
rarioiis school subjects as they are seen in terms of human need. Civics is 
the one subject which gives a direct treatment of citizenship and its obligations 
nnd it ought to be the crowning study of the public schools, which have been 
established primarily to perfect citizenship, (p. 104.) 

The child should become conscious of the social institutions of which he is 
a member ; he should know their contribution to his happiness and safety and 
welfare; and at least he should be made sensitive to his obligations and those 
opportunities which are afforded him at every instant of life to discharge his 
duties as a good citizen. It is, therefore, intended that an effective concentra- 
tion of this work be accomplished in the B eighth grade and careful and 
complete study from a textbook be undertaken, (p. 105.) 

As to method the following instructions are given : 

Avoid memorization of facts as facts. It is easy to create an interest in 
social affairs because their problems impinge on the lives of all of us. Work 
largely by the method of observation, reading, inquiry, and discussion * * *. 
Try to create a strong feeling of admiration for well-established principles of 
social conduct and strong attitudes of revulsion against those types of social 
misconduct about which there can be no question. Work particularly to fix 
admirable and desirable qualities of human character in the minds of children 
by showing how they have been present in the personalities of great human 
leaders such as Washington, Lincoln, and others, (p. 105.) 

Observation, inquiry and reading outside the recitation, and discussion of 
topics in the class exercise will be the method of instruction. Try to have 
the children get their information in the way in which they will be compelled 
to get it in after life. Stimulate free investigation and discussion in a spirit 
of absolute fairness. Use the questions for investigat:on at the end of each 
chapter * * *. Work for a devotion to right ideals and a proper attitude 
of mind rather than a mere command of facts, (p. 130.) 

As far as could be ascertained no further explanatory statement 
of aims and methods has been issued from the office of the super- 
intendent since this one of 1911. The aims and methods here briefly 
suggested seem to be in general harmony with those stated in the 
introduction to this report (see above, p. 300). It remains to con- 
sider the actual practice in the schools. 

2. Types of instruction. — The instruction observed in the eighth- 
grade classes in civics in San Francisco is of four general types : 

(1) Formal civil- government type. 

Teacher: What is civics? 

Pupil: Civics is the science of our government. 

This single introductory question and answer of one recitation are 
typical of a kind of instruction that places a premium upon rote in- 
formation and definition. The " science of government " is wholly 
beyond the range of an eighth-grade child's interest, experience and 
comprehension, as would be the science of economics or the science 
of physics. It is out of harmony with the aims and methods set 
forth in the printed course of study (see above), nor does it meet the 
tests formulated in the introduction to this report (p. 301). More- 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 305 

over, it does not conform to the spirit and method of the textbook 
which the teacher "was using, which is "more concerned about the 
interest that the pupil shall develop in the life of the community 
and his relations to that life, than about the amount of systematic 
knowledge that he shall gain regarding the forms and workings of 
government"' (preface to textbook, pp. iii, iv). 

This type of instruction is more fully illustrated by the following 
portion of another recitation: 

Teacher: What are the three branches of government? 

Pupil: The three branches of government are the legislative, the executive, 
and the judicial branches. 

Teacher: What is the duty of the legislative branch? 

Pupil: The duty of the legislative branch is to make the laws. 

(A similar question and answer with reference to the other two branches.) 

Teacher: What is the legislative branch of the National Government called? 

Pupil: The legislative branch of the National Government is called Congress. 

Teacher: What are the two branches of Congress? 

Pupil: The two branches of Congress are the House of Representatives and 
the Senate. 

And thus throughout the recitation. Another teacher who in con- 
versation seemed to have grasped another viewpoint, remarked when 
about to open her recitation, " I must explain that I believe it a good 
thing to make a summary analysis of the Constitution before he- 
ginning the regular work. That is what we are doing now." She 
further explained that " several weeks " were spent in this way. A 
considerable portion of the ensuing recitation was given to a dis- 
cussion of " bills of attainder " and " letters of marque and reprisal." 

Frequently pupils were called upon to recite the preamble to the 
Constitution of the United States. This is worth memorizing for 
more reasons than one; but in no case was an attempt made to em- 
phasize the idea which the preamble, so clearly illustrates : The idea 
of common welfare and common interests, of the necessity for co- 
operation to provide for them, and of government as the supreme 
means of cooperation. 

Nor does the shifting of emphasis from national to local, or even 
from governmental to industrial and other social facts, necessarily 
relieve instruction of formalism. Local facts and relations have a 
peculiar value in the civic education of a child; but much of this 
value has been lost by the formal way in which children are taught 
about city charters, the work of local boards and commissions, cata- 
logues of industries, and miles of pavement. 

The formal type of civics instruction includes all that whose pri- 
mary aim, regardless of its subject matter, seems to be merely to 
impart formal information : or which results in this, whatever its 
aim may be. There is a great deal of this type of instruction in the 
eighth grades of the San Francisco schools. 
93815—17 20 



306 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FRANCISCO. 

(2) The textbook type of instruction. — This is characterized by 
close adherence to the letter of the textbook though not to its 
spirit. It is widely prevalent in San Francisco. It is itself a varia- 
tion of the formal type already described, for close adherence to the 
letter of the text results in formalism of the worst kind. As truly as 
the first type it violates the dictum of the printed course of study, 
" avoid memorization of facts as facts," even though the facts be of 
a different kind from those usually dealt with in the first type. It 
also violates the spirit of the text in use, in the introduction to 
which the teacher is cautioned: "The pupil should be kept as far 
away as possible from the idea that he is studying a book. The real 
object of his study is the community in which he lives." 

Sometimes the pupils close their books and recite on the subject 
matter of the text as previously studied. More commonly they read 
the lesson aloud, paragraph by paragraph, sometimes with a repeti- 
tion of the thought in their own words, occasionally with concrete 
illustrations of local application, usually with very little discussion. 

In one class, in which the instruction seemed on the whole to be 
of good quality, the importance of the home as a factor in com- 
munity life was up for discussion. A pupil gave an excellent repro- 
duction of what the textbook said about the evils of overcrowding in 
"slum" districts of large cities — from the spread of disease or 
fire, the difficulty of controlling crime, the increased cost of govern- 
mental protection, etc. In the course of his recitation he repeatedly 
referred to " the city." 

Observer: What city are you talking about? 

Pupil, (very promptly) : New York. 

Observer: Are you particularly interested in New York? 

Pupil: No, not very. 

Observer: In what city are you most interested? 

Pupil (after a pause) : I think I am most interested in San Francisco be- 
cause I live here. 

Observer: Are the facts that you have been reciting about New York equally 
true of San Francisco? 

Pupil (thoughtfully) : Not exactly. 

This boy had a considerable fund of information regarding simi- 
lar conditions in his own city — incomplete, unorganized, and doubt- 
less partly erroneous. So far as his recitation indicated, however, he 
was studying New York from the pages of a book, when he should 
have been organizing, correcting, and supplementing the facts of his 
own community life of which he was already more or less conscious. 
Information about New York and other cities derived from the text- 
book and elsewhere should afford a basis for comparison and gen- 
eralization. 

At the ends of the textbook chapters are topics for investigation. 
They suggest lines of inquiry into the facts of the pupils' community 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 307 

life, facts to be gathered by observation, personal inquiry at home or 
of friends, by reference to local reports, newspapers, periodicals, etc. 
In the introduction to the textbook it is stated : 

The topics at the ends of the chapters are intended as aids in the study of 
the real community in which the child lives. If any of them prove otherwise, 
they should be omitted or modified, or others should be substituted for them. 
Some topics may be used for general class work, others for individual reports. 
They can not all be used effectively in every community. The teacher should 
fit the topics to the needs of the class and to the conditions of the particular 
community. Do not expect the same results from all pupils, but lead each to 
expect to make his contribution to the progress of the class. 

The textbook type of instruction fails to get the value from such 
topics. Sometimes they are ignored altogether. One teacher did 
little with them because she " had not time to work them up." Some- 
times they are used but in a perfunctory manner. " Take the topics 
at the end of the chapter." A lesson assigned on this basis is almost 
inevitably foredoomed to failure. 

(3) The moralizing type. — The moralizing type of instruction is 
not common in connection with eighth-grade civics, so far as obser- 
vation indicated, but more than a suggestion of it was see a in a few 
instances. It is the type of instruction which does little more than 
to make the civics lesson an excuse, or an occasion, for so-called 
" moral lessons," often of a rather sentimental character. There is 
no better or richer opportunity for real moral training than in con- 
nection with civic instruction. Effective civic education is funda- 
mentally moral. But " moralizing," in the usual sense of the word, 
is not only a far cry from civic education, but it also accomplishes 
little for the real moral training of children. 

Closely related to this sentimental moralizing about good citizen- 
ship is much of the so-called "teaching of patriotism." The sing- 
ing of patriotic songs, the recitation of patriotic selections, the salute 
to the flag, and the repeating of pledges of loyalty to Nation or city 
have their place. They are universal throughout the San Francisco 
schools. But unless they are supplemented by organized civic train- 
ing of a more fundamental type, they tend to become " as sounding 
brass, or a tinkling cymbal." This impression was intensified on 
seeing a class of 45 Chinese children, one-third of whom were born in 
China, and under our laws could by no possibility become " citizens," 
repeating the "oath of allegiance" and saluting the flag of "our 
country." It should be added, however, that in this class the ob- 
server did see evidences of civic instruction that was much more 
fundamental. 

(4) The " community civics " type. — This term, which is now in 
current use, designates that type of instruction which is charac- 
terized chiefly by the fact that the pupil's own community is the 
direct subject of study. Local community study occupies a promi- 



308 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

nent place in it, because this is the community of the child's chief 
experience; but he is a member of a National and a State community 
as well as of a city or a neighborhood. Community civics aids the 
pupil to an understanding of the meaning of his community life in 
terms of his own experience, " what it does for him and how it does 
it, what the community has a right to expect from him and how he 
may fulfill his obligation; meanwhile cultivating in him the essential 
qualities and habits of good citizenship." 1 

This type of instruction is rare in the San Francisco schools, 
although it is apparently what was intended in the brief discussion 
of aims and methods in the course of study of 1011 (above, pp. 303- 
304), and although the textbook in use seeks to stimulate it. 

The following portions of a recitation in a measure illustrate it. 
This recitation was reported verbatim, but it is not equal in quality 
to other work previously observed in the same class. Constructive 
comments are interspersed with the questions and answers in the 
following reproduction. 

It will be noted that not a question was asked by a pupil and 
that each question by the teacher was invariably answered by a 
single pupil. This suggests a lack of initiative, if not of vital in- 
terest, on the part of the pupils. Freedom of discussion and inquiry 
is an important element in community civics. 

Teacher. This afternoon we are going to talk about how the community aids 
the citizen to satisfy his desire for health. 

(The topic is here stated in the words of the chapter title of the textbook. 
It would Have been more effective if it had been restated : " We are going to 
talk about how our community helps us to satisfy our desire for health.") 

Question 1. What other desires hns man? 

Answer 1. His other desires are for wealth, for beauty, for knowledge, for 
companionship. 

(Still the abstract. If the question had been, "What other desires have 
we?" the answer would have been, "We desire wealth, beauty, etc." The 
desires here mentioned are among those referred to in the textbook as fur- 
nishing the motives for all community activity. Whether their existence had 
been worked out by the class, on the basis of their own experience, as they 
should have been, or was merely accepted on the authority of the text, is not 
known. ) 

Question 2. If you were asked which of all these desires you would value 
most, which would you take? 

Ansiccr .?. I would choose health, because without health we can not satisfy 
the other desires very well. 

(This question and answer are more direct, but they might have been im- 
proved : "Which of these desires do you value most?" The pupil should be 
stimulated to say what he actually thinks, and an opportunity afforded for 
class discussion.) 

Question 3. Why can not the family alone protect the health of its members? 

1 The aims, content, and methods of community civics are discussed fully in Bui., 1915, 
Nos. 17 and 23, and 1910, No. 28, U. S. Bu. of Educ. 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 30$ 

Answer 3. When in the wilderness the families were scattered and alone, it 
was possible for them to take en re of their health very easily, because there 
were no dangers as now in large cities, where many people are crowded to- 
gether. 

(The pupil was apparently trying to recall what the book said on this point.) 

Question J t . What are some of the dangers where people are crowded? 

Answer ! t . The dangers of people in a community are from impure water 
supply, adulterated foods, germs, and unclean places * * *, and in each 
community the government must take care of the health of the citizens. 

(Questions 3 and 4 might have been developed thus: Can your family protect 
your health completely without help from outside? Why? Give illustrations 
to prove it. Compare your family with a pioneer family in the early days of 
California in this respect. What dangers to health are there in this school? 
In your neighborhood? In San Francisco? 

Answer 4, instead of being a formal abstract reply, probably largely sug- 
gested by the textbook, would have become a class discussion based on obser- 
vation, conversation heard, current reading, etc. Then — 

Are the water supply and the food supply of San Francisco pure? Are you 
sure of your facts? How do you know? How can you find out? Is there a 
pure-milk problem in San Francisco? If so, what has been done about it? 
etc., etc.) 

Question 5. In what ways does the government do this work? (Referring 
to last part of answer 4.) 

Answer 5. They have sewers to carry away the unclean water. 

Question 6. What else? 

Answer 6. They take the garbage out to the ocean and dump it there. 

Question 7. What else has the government done for the protection of health? 

Answer 7. The government has street cleaners and inspectors and the board 
of health. 

Question 8. Tell me about the board of health; of what does it consist? 

Answer 8. The board of health consists of seven members appointed by the 
governor. Three of them have to be physicians practicing in this State for 
five years. They must see that the ordinances made by the supervisors . and 
board of health are carried out. 

Question 9. Do they receive any compensation? 

Ansioer 9. They receive no compensation. 

(Answer 8, if correctly reported, contains an error. No member of the 
class seems to have caught it, and no attempt was made to correct it. 

Questions and answers 1-A seek to establish the importance of health, the 
dangers threatening it, and the dependence of one upon another for health 
protection. 5-9 develop the means by which the people cooperate through 
government for health protection. 

Without knowing what follows in later lessons, the recitation based on 
questions 5-9 seems superficial. The story of how San Francisco keeps itself 
clean, for example, is worthy of more than the passing attention given it.) 

Question 10. What does the board of health do? Can you tell me some things 
that have happened in your own experience that the health board has done 
in regard to quarantine, or anything of that kind? 

Answer 10. My sister had scarlet fever. They quarantined our house for one 
month, and she was kept in one room. My mother had to stay there a great 
deal of the time, and when coming out had to change her clothes in order that 
the germs would not be carried to other members of the family. 

Question 11. Was this beneficial? 



310 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OE SAN FRANCISCO. 

Answer 11. Yes; because it kept other people from getting the disease, and 
we were not allowed to communicate with anybody. Besides, they had a sign 
on the door, and no one was allowed to enter the house. 

Question 12. And were your people strict about obeying all regulations? 

Answer 12. Yes; my mother was very strict. 

Question 13. Suppose there is a family where there is a dangerous disease 
and the family refuses to obey these regulations? 

Answer 13. They are compelled to follow them. 

Question lJf. Suppose they are not watched all the time and go out and 
permit people to come iD? 

Ansiver 14. Then the district they live in will become dangerous with this 
disease. 

Question 15. Would you call those people good citizens? 

Answer 15. No. 

(Questions and answers 10-15 are a good example of building on the pupil's 
own experience. They also emphasize personal responsibility.) 

Various other topics were discussed, such as playgrounds and hospitals, 
until the following questions were asked, illustrating how the community civics 
idea is extended to State and national activity. 

Question. Explain how health in one community depends on that in another. 

Answer. If there is a stream that runs through two cities near one another, 
and one of the cities pollutes the stream and the stream is running toward 
the other city, the other city will get this water and the disease also * * * 

Question. What does this lead to; it is not only necessary to have a local 
board of health—? 

Answer. The State board of health is equally necessary * * *. 

Question. Can you tell some of the things the State board of health should 
attend to? 

(This question was discussed all too briefly.) 

Question. What does the National Government do to aid the citizens to sat- 
isfy tins desire for health? 

Answer. The National Government, when ships are coming in from foreign 
countries, sees that these ships are inspected and the people examined to find 
out if they have any diseases; and, if they have, the ship is quarantined and 
the people not allowed to come ashore until the disease is passed on. If it is a 
disease that can not be cured, the people are sent back to the country thev 
came from * * *. 

(This seaport affords unusual opportunity for the children to observe the 
National Government at work. These last few questions suggest material for 
a number of lessons.) 

It may be objected that, if the suggestions here made were fol- 
lowed out, too much time would be consumed. The course of study 
says " complete the book." Teachers frequently interpret this liter- 
ally. When this occurs the instruction in civics will be of the text- 
book type, and not of the community civics type. It is, of course, 
impossible to treat intensively every topic suggested: but some of 
them must be so treated if the pupils are to receive any real training 
for citizenship. 

3. Material aids for civic study. — Almost no material evidence was 
seen in classrooms to indicate that a study of the pupils' community 
life was going on. In one case only was there a bulletin board for 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 311 

newspaper clippings (but with no clippings on it at the time). 
There were no photographs or other pictures, no exhibits of any 
kind. No publications of local voluntary social agencies were seen. 
and if an occasional municipal or other governmental report was to 
be found on the teacher's desk it was exceptional, and no actual use 
was seen to be made of such. 

It is difficult to see how civics instruction can be made vital with- 
out such concrete material. It brings into the classroom tangible 
or visible evidence of the community life outside, and helps the pupil 
to connect his study with reality. It affords the teacher evidence of 
the pupils' interest, of the extent to which they comprehend the 
class work, and of the intelligence with which they organize their 
acquired information and apply it to their own community relations. 
Profitable training is given by the search for news items, editorials, 
and magazine articles pertinent to the work in hand; by taking 
kodak pictures illustrative of conditions under discussion; by ex- 
amining reports of governmental and voluntary agencies; and by 
organizing the materials collected for the uses of the class. 

The published reports of governmental departments and of volun- 
tary social agencies contain much material within the comprehension 
of eighth-grade children under supervision. The municipal reports 
of San Francisco for 1912-13 (the latest at hand) contain 83 pages 
on the work of the board of health alone, and as many more on the 
vital statistics of the city, a judicious use of which would relieve the 
study of abstractness and superficiality. With respect to the avail- 
ability of such official reports for civic-educational uses the follow- 
ing may be said : 

(1) Much of the material of such reports is presented in statistical 
tables, which very few people read because of their formidable 
appearance or because they are not understood. Since tables and 
charts are a common and useful means of presenting certain kinds 
of information, instruction in regard to their use might well find 
a place in the education of the citizen. It should not be given, how- 
ever, through formal exercises in reading tables as such^ but inci- 
dentally by the intelligent use of appropriate tables pertinent to the 
work in hand. Such, for example, is the table on page 692 of the 
municipal reports for 1912-13, which shows clearly, among other 
things, the danger from so-called " trifling " diseases such as whoop- 
ing cough as compared with more dreaded diseases such as smallpox 
or diphtheria. 

(2) The value of public reports depends upon the extent to which 
they are read and understood. If they could be prepared in clear 
logical English, devoid of technicalities, with ample explanation and 
illustration, so that they could be easily understood by the rank anc 



312 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

file, it would be an inestimable service to the community. Such a 
report was published by the city of Cincinnati in 1D12 (there may 
have been later similar reports) and is said to have been of great 
service in the schools. 

The body of information contained in such local reports can not 
be included in the compass of a textbook prepared for general use, 
neither can it be included, except in illustrative quantities, in a text- 
book prepared locally. Even if it could, this is not the purpose of a 
textbook (see p. 300). Moreover, there is a positive educational value 
in sending the pupil for his material to the sources which the citizen 
must use in later life, as clearly recognized in the printed course of 
study for San Francisco (1911, p. 130; see above, p. 30-t). As soon as 
teacher and pupil come to depend upon the textbook for the facts and 
conditions of their own community life, instruction will deteriorate 
into the " textbook type " and will lose its essential vitality. 

The assembling of materials for study not only teaches the pupil 
methods in use in actual life, but it places responsibility upon him 
for his own particular contribution to the work of the class. It offers 
opportunity for division of labor and cooperation. It helps to 
develop initiative and judgment. The accumulation and preserva- 
tion of materials for the use not only of " our class " but also of other 
classes to follow emphasizes the lesson of obligation to the future. 

The pupils of a Chicago high school, in cooperation with outside 
agencies, prepared an exhibit of civic and social conditions that was 
visited in a few days' time by 30,000 people. This is an exceptional 
case; but an exhibit both interesting and profitable to parents and 
patrons is quite within the ability of most schools, and would serve 
as an interesting feature of public exercises at the school. The ef- 
fort of teachers and pupils to obtain reliable and specific informa- 
tion and illustrative material has sometimes set public libraries, 
chambers of commerce, women's clubs, and other agencies at work to 
supply the deficienc}^. The work of the school is thus extended 
throughout the community. 

4. Supervisory aid for civics teachers. — The eighth-grade teachers 
of civics in San Francisco present as high an average of ability as 
would be found in any large school system. But it is doubtful if 
any teacher in the elementary schools of the city has had preliminary 
training in the principles and methods of the vitalized type of civics 
instruction suggested in the foregoing pages. Normal schools and 
universities have so far given litle help in this direction except such 
as may be derived incidentally from the usual courses in history and 
social science. In fact, the work of the higher schools has tended to 
perpetuate formal methods of instruction. 

Thus without previous preparation the teachers of civics have had 
placed in their hands a textbook, and have then been left almost 



CIVIC EDUCATION. » 313 

entirely to their own devices in the application of the principles 
briefly stated in the 1911 course of study. Many of them seem even 
to be unaware of the statement there made. Under these circum- 
stances only a teacher with an unusual social viewpoint and large 
initiative and resourcefulness could be expected to attain a large 
measure of success in work of so vital a character without special 
supervision. 

In one school, and only one, there was found an outline that had 
been prepared under the direction of the principal as an aid to the 
civics teachers of the school in relating the work definitely to the 
pupils' community life. Even in this case there was no evidence of 
its use in the classes observed, and the teachers did not refer to it in 
describing their plan of work. 

Among the bulletins issued by the State Normal School of San 
Francisco is one entitled "A Composition Course in American Gov- 
ernment and Pupils' Handbook to State Series Text." It was seen 
on the desks of a few teachers of civics in the city. It is in two 
parts, the first outlining the "composition course in government," 
and the second giving information supplementary to the civics text- 
book and largely relating to California. However excellent the out- 
line may be as a basis for composition work, in its effect upon the 
teaching of civics it distinctly tends to fix the textbook type of in- 
struction. Part II contains much useful information, but offers no 
help on the side of methods, in which teachers most need help. 

Unfortunately there seems to be no very intimate relation between 
the State Normal School of San Francisco and the public schools of 
the city. It is questionable whether teachers trained solely in an 
extreme method of "individual instruction," which peculiarly char- 
acterizes this normal school, are thereby best fitted to meet public 
school conditions as they now exist and. probably must exist for a 
long time to come. But whatever its value in the teaching of such 
formal subjects as arithmetic or reading, it is poorly adapted to a 
type of civics instruction which depends for its success upon care- 
fully organized group work. 

The civics teachers as a rule seemed eager for constructive surges- 
tions as to methods; but they were practically unanimous in the 
statement that almost no supervision or direction is given. In a 
number of schools the civics instruction is divided between twe 
teachers who work along entirely different lines and by different 
methods, neither knowing what the other is doing. In one school. 
for example, one of the teachers commented especially on the pecu- 
liar value of the first few chapters in the textbook as affording the 
keynote to the entire course. Another teacher in the same school 
considered these chapters entirely superfluous, and remarked thai 



314 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

she could see no connection betwen the chapter her class was then 
studying and the topics that were to follow. 

Repeated inquiry discovered but one teacher who ever attended 
conferences for the discussion of methods in civics. This was the 
case of a teacher who on her own initiative occasionally " got to- 
gether" with friends who teach the same subject. It is possibly 
significant that some of the most vital work seen in the San Fran- 
cisco schools was in the classes of this teacher. In one school the 
principal described what he calls his "little institutes" for the 
teachers of his building; but these relate to civics no more, at least, 
than to other subjects. 

Experience in other school systems has demonstrated that 
teachers without previous training for this work can be brought to 
a high degree of proficiency in a remarkably short time while actu- 
ally in service. It requires, however, special supervision. Work as 
vital and as far-reaching as that of civic education should be under 
the direction of a supervisor trained especially for it. His duties 
should not be restricted merely to eighth-grade civics instruction; 
but so far as this part of his work is concerned, it should include the 
planning and organization of the work from term to term ; the study 
of the particular problems of each school and each teacher ; the prep- 
aration of syllabi and other aids for the teachers; the adaptation of 
the work to different groups of children, such as the foreign group ; 
the holding of conferences for the discussion of methods and common 
problems; to act as a sort of clearing-house for the teachers with 
respect to current happenings and situations that would have a special 
civic-educational value; to keep in close touch with community 
activities, departmental reports, etc., in order to advise teachers as 
to what is of special value and how to use it. The broader duties of 
such supervisor are referred to on page 366. 

Meanwhile great improvement could be made in the quality of the 
civics instruction if regular provision were made for frequent conr 
ferences of the civics teachers, and especially if advantage were taken 
of the latent leadership, the initiative, the resourcefulness, and the 
experience of teachers who have shown particular aptitude in this 
field of work. This policy would not only raise the level of the 
work of the less capable or resourceful or experienced, but would be 
a constant stimulus and inspiration to the better qualified to raise 
rheir own standards and improve their own methods. 

III. Civics instruction below the eighth grade. — It is evident from 
the course of study that the civics instruction below the eighth grade 
is intended to be incidental to instruction in history and other sub- 
jects, although a degree of definiteness and continuity is aimed at 
(see p. 302 above). A supplementary text in civics for these early 
grades is specified, but repeated inquiry of principals and teachers 



cmc EDUCATION. 815 

failed to disclose a copy in use or on the teacher's desk. In reply to 
the question whether systematic civics instruction was given in these 
grades, some principals and teachers said "yes," others "no," and 
others " as opportunity offers." Where instruction is " incidental " it 
is only by chance that it is found in progress at the time a class is 
visited. Observation indicated that it is casual, varying with the 
interest and initiative of the teacher. 
The course of study states that— 

Civics is a splendid opportunity for applying to life situations much that 
has been learned in the various school subjects as they are seen in terms of 
human need. History and political ethics, geographic distribution and eco- 
nomic problems, physiology and public health have relations that need to be 
studied, not in the isolation of their special fields, but in their relationship to 
each other as they touch individual and social life. Civics ought to be the 
crowning study of the public schools, which have been established primarily to 
perfect citizenship. 

This statement suggests the following questions : 

To what extent are the civic-educational values and opportunities 
of history, geography, and other subjects recognized and utilized in 
practice ? 

To what extent are these various subjects correlated from the 
standpoint of their common civic-educational value? 

To what extent does the curriculum afford continuity to the civic 
education of the pupil throughout the grades? 

To what extent and in what sense does the eighth-grade civics 
" crown " the work of the earlier grades ? 

The course of study offers suggestions (see above, p. 302) for the 
civic application of history instruction which, if carried out in prac- 
tice in an organized way, would give to the latter considerable direct 
civic value. Probably they are carried out to some extent, at least 
by some teachers. But the history instruction is, as a rule, very 
formal. The textbook is followed closely, and the pupils learn se- 
ries of facts and events with very little organization of subject- 
matter in relation to their own interests or to present social 
conditions. 

The history of the colonization of our country, whether on the At- 
lantic seaboard in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries or in the 
far West in the nineteenth century, exemplifies in every detail the 
motives and processes of community growth and organization to which 
careful attention is supposed to be given in the civics of the eighth 
grade. Any of the first eight topics in the outline for civics (see p. 
303) could be developed in connection with the colonial history of the 
United States or the early history of California. The same relation 
exists between other topics of the civics course and other periods and 
topics of United States history. By the time pupils reach the eighth- 



316 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

grade civics they might be quite familiar with many of the ideas and 
principles which community civics is designed to develop more fully 
and systematically. And in the eighth grade the civics and United 
States history should reinforce each other at every point. This kind 
of correlation would not only enable the pupil to see these two sub- 
jects " in their relation to each other as they touch (the pupil's) indi- 
vidual and social life," but would effect an economy of time at least 
in the eighth-grade work. 
It has been said of the elementary schools of another city : 

The aim seems to be to make of education, not a process of instruction in> 
a variety of subjects, but a process of living, of growth, during which the vari- 
ous relations of life are unfolded — civic, geographical, historical, ethical, voca-, 
tional, etc. * * * In the first grade, for example, the pupil does not ever* 
study " English" or " language"; he merely does things, and talks about things, 
and hears and tells stories about things, the teacher alone being conscious that 
she is giving the child his first organized lessons in civic life, as well as in the 
use of the English language. 

Even in the eighth year, where civics appears as a separate subject alter- 
nating throughout the year with American history, the coordination is so close 
(in the hands of a skillful teacher) that the pupils are hardly conscious that 
they are studying two " subjects." They are rather studying certain phenomena 
of life in two aspects — historical and civic. 1 

This organic kind of correlation can hardly be said to exist in the 
San Francisco schools. Perhaps the nearest approach to it was 
found in the Hamilton Intermediate School. Here typewriting is* 
one of the regular channels for the teaching of English and spelling. 
Topics for theme work are submitted to the teacher of typewriting 
by the teachers of other subjects, including history, geography, civics 9 
manual training, sewing, home economics, etc. Lessons in spelling* 
are derived from these various fields. The teacher of typewriting 
also has direction of the " external reading " of all the pupils of the 
school, preparing lists of books relating to topics submitted by the 
teachers of other subjects, and keeping a record of all reading done. 
Here is a correlation which tends to break down the sharp lines of 
demarcation between "subjects" and to organize the pupil's educa- 
tion around a real interest. It is not merely that all subjects of the 
curriculum contribute to the mechanical process of learning to type- 
write, but that all are, or may be, organized around a real interest of 
the pupil, which in this case is vocational inasmuch as typewriting 
is primarily a vocational subject. 

The teaching of geography in the San Francisco elementary schools* 
is perhaps even more formal than the teaching of history, although 
it affords a peculiarly rich opportunity for correlation with the 

l The Social Studies in Secondary Education, U. S. Bu. of Educ, Bui., 1916, No. 28, 
p. 16. 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 317 

pupil's life. A member of the survey commission says (Chapter 
VI of this report, p. 222): 

Home geography, although emphasized in the course of study, is poorly repre- 
sented in the actual teaching. Excursions are very unusual. San Francisco is 
marvel ously rich in local scenery, in varied commercial and industrial activities, 
and in striking objects interesting in themselves and suggestive of foreign 
countries and of far-reaching relations to the outside world. * * * The 
magnificent harbor, girt in with mountains, the docks piled with foreign goods, 
the great ships at anchor in the bay or alongside the wharves, the variety of 
ocean-going ships, sailing vessels, steamers and battleships, the forts and bat- 
teries guarding the entrance to the harbor, the ocean itself, the sea beaches, 
the islands, the crowded ferries and ferry stations, the foreign populations with 
their peculiar dress and modes of living, the factories and shops, the parks 
and buildings * * *, all these and other striking objects of interest furnish 
an almost unequalled richness of geographical material. But the schools, as 
such, scarcely notice these things. On mention of this matter to several teach- 
ers, they were naively surprised at the richness of local material they had 
overlooked. 

But these very things should furnish at least a point of departure 
not only for geography, but also for history and civics. Harbor and 
docks and merchant ships and battleships and forts and ferries and 
foreign populations and factories and parks and public buildings 
are the realities of the San Francisco child's life to which his 
studies should be related. The injunction in the course of study to 
"correlate the history work with the geography by looking up the 
localities mentioned " is superficial and without vitality. The pupil's 
own life affords the only vital coordinating principle for the various 
subjects of the curriculum. 

In regard to hygiene the course of study says: "The study of the 
previous grades has been dealing largely with personal hygiene. The 
work of the eighth grade should deal mainly with the factors in 
social hygiene or public sanitation. The work should, as far as pos- 
sible, correlate with the eighth grade civics." How far this idea 
is carried out in the classes in hygiene was not observed; in some 
civics classes, however, where the subject of public health was under 
consideration, much of the pupils' information had evidently been 
acquired previously in their study of hygiene. 

In Bulletin, 1915, No. 17, pages 23-2G, United States Bureau of 
Education, there are given some striking illustrations of how arith- 
metic may be related intimately to the life of the child and corre- 
lated with other subjects of study. There is little of this sort of 
thing in the San Francisco schools. A member of the survey com- 
mission reports that "not much stress is put upon the thoughtful, 
independent work of solving problems and of applying arithmetical 
processes to subjects which come up in other studies." 

To conclude, the opportunities presented by history, geography, 
and other studies in the elementary curriculum of the San Francisco 



318 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

schools for the social and civic education of the pupil are neglected. 
There is practically no vital correlation of these subjects around the 
j. resent life interests of the pupils. The eighth-grade civics is a 
" crowning course " in little more than position. The term would 
seem to imply organized, unified, coordinated civic education through- 
out the grades below the eighth, to which the eighth-grade work is 
definitely related and which it still further coordinates and rounds 
out. The eighth-grade civics should be a climax in a continuous 
civic development of the pupil. In San Francisco this is not so. 
Neither pupils nor teachers seem to be conscious of a relation between 
it and anything that has gone before. To them it is a " new subject " 
for their appreciation of which the studies of the past have made 
little contribution. 

B. HIGH SCHOOLS. 

I. The Social-Studies Curriculum. 

Instruction in government or " civics ?? is prescribed for gradua- 
tion in all the San Francisco high schools except the High School of 
Commerce, where it is elective in the second and fourth years. 
Courses in history and economics are offered in all high schools. 
Business law is offered in the High School of Commerce, and a 
course in vocational guidance in the Polytechnic High School. This 
entire group of " social studies " should as truly have a civic aim as 
the subject of civics or government itself. 

Point of view and criteria. — The present attempt at appraisal of 
t he instruction in the social studies is made wholly with reference to 
I he extent to which they contribute to the education of the pupil for 
citizenship. Citizenship is understood in the sense defined in the 
introduction to this chapter, and the criteria applied are those also 
formulated there. (See pp. 300-301.) 

Judged by the standards which have heretofore controlled in the 
organization of high-school courses of study in history and social 
science, that of the San Francisco schools would take high rank. 
Seldom is more elaborate provision made for these studies. Four 
continuous years of history and social science are now offered in all 
high schools of the city. The history and Government of the United 
States are prescribed for graduation except in the High School of 
Commerce. A course in economics is offered in all the schools. In 
some of the schools special additional courses are given. 

Judged by the traditional standards of teaching these subjects, the 
quality of instruction in the San Francisco high schools is, generally 
speaking, as good as will be found anywhere, and in some cases ex- 
ceptionally good. 

In so far as the criticisms that follow seem adverse, it is not be- 
cause of an alleged inferiority in practice in the San Francisco 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 319 

schools as compared with other American high schools, but because 
of a serious attempt to suggest lines of constructive endeavor in the 
light of present tendencies. 

Requirements. — The course of social studies in the San Francisco 
high schools is organized on the customary four-unit plan: A year 
of ancient history, a year of medieval and modern European history,, 
a half-year of English history, a year of American history and gov- 
ernment, and a half-year of economics. Two of the schools — the 
Girls' and the Mission — follow this plan without modification ; in the 
other three schools there are modifications to be discussed later. 

There is a presumably civic purpose in prescribing United States 
history and government. But since they are required only in the 
fourth year, they actually reach a very small minority of the pupils 
who enter the high schools. The one school in which they are not 
required for graduation is the High School of Commerce where the 
course of study is presumably of a particularly " practical " char- 
acter, and where the vast majority of pupils finish their schooling 
with the high school. 

In the Lowell High School all the history of the first and second 
years is required in addition to the United States history and gov- 
ernment of the fourth year. 

The University of California requires one year of history for en- 
trance without prescribing what history it shall be. The prescribed 
United States history and government of the high schools therefore 
satisfies the requirements of this institution. Pupils who plan to 
enter and graduate from the State Normal School of San Francisco, 
however, must take three full years of history in the high school. 

Election of social studies. — To determine the actual election of 
social studies information was obtained directly from the pupils of 
three of the high schools — the Girls', the Mission, and the Com- 
mercial. The Lowell High School was omitted from the inquiry be- 
cause its pupils have so little option. The Polytechnic High School 
was also omitted because it is in a transition stage, and the data 
obtained there would not be comparable with those from the other 
schools. 

Table 136 gives the number of pupils reporting from each of the 
schools. It represents about 90 per cent of the total enrollment at 
the time of the investigation. 

Tables 137-146 show the per cent of pupils in each high school 
who have taken the several social' studies of the standard course, of 
those taking no history, those having taken all history offered, those 
having taken only the first and last years of history, and those of 
the present fourth-year class who have taken the several social 
studies. 



320 



TIIE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 13G. — Pupils reporting on social studies taken (representing about 00 
per cent of total enrollment). 





First 
year. 


Second 
year. 


Third 
year. 


Fourth 
year. 


Total. 


Girls' 


190 

223 

/ i 336 

\ n83 


119 

116 

i 205 

2 133 


97 

80 

U5 

2 95 


94 

62 

i 1 

244 


500 




481 




1557 




2 455 



» Pupils taking 2-year course. 2 Pupils taking 4-year course. 

Table 137. — Pupils having 1aken ancient history. 





Girls'. 


Mission. 


Commerce. 




Greek. 


Roman. 


Ancient. 1 


Greek. 


Roman. 


First year 


Per cent. 
82.6 
8S.0 
100.0 
96.8 


Per cent. 

2 46. 8 

85.7 

100.0 

96.8 


Per cent. 
61.0 
64.6 
76.0 
92.0 


Per cent. 
20.0 
56.0 
76.0 

9,7 


Per cent. 
8.4 


Second vear 


40.0 


Third vear 


71.8 


Fourth vear 


95.0 


1 





> Greek and Roman history not reported separately from this school. As a rule pupils taking Greek 
history also take Roman. 

2 Roman history is not offered until the second half of the year. Only 2 pupils in the first half reported 
taking it. 

Table 13S. — Pupils having taken medieval and modem history. 





Girls'. 


Mission. 


Commerce. 




Medieval. 


Modern. 


Medieval. 


Modern. 


Medieval. 


Modern. 


First yenr 


Per cent. 

4.2 

7«. 6 

79. 3 

84.0 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 


Second year 


1 45. 3 
74.2 
80.0 


55. 
66. 
87.0 


45. 6 
C7.0 
84.0 


2 13. 
63.6 
80.0 


7.7 


Thi rd vear 


59.0 


Fourth year 


64.0 







1 9 per cent of first half-year pupils: 73.7 of second half-year pupils; 45.3 per cent for cm ire year. 
8 9 per cent of first-half year pupils; 21 per cent of second half-year pupils; 13 per cent for entire year. 

Table 339. — Pupils having taken English history. 





Girls'. 


Mission. 


Commerce. 


First vear 


Per cent. 

0.0 

2.5 

44.3 

46.8 


Per cent. 

0.0 

.0 

58.7 

80.0 


Per cent. 
0.0 




2.6 


Third year 


41.0 


Fourth year 


73.0 







Table 140. — Pupils having taken United Slates history. 1 



♦ 


Girls'. 


Mission. 


Commerce. 


First year 


Per cent. 

0.0 

.0 

11.3 

98.9 


Per cent. 
0.0 

.0 

.0 

100.0 


Per cent. 
0.0 


Second vear 


2 P.. 6 


Tliird vear 


14.5 


Fourth year 


64.4 







Required subject in Girls' and Mission High Schools, elective in High School of Commerce. 
All 4-year pupils. 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 
Table 141. — Pupils having taken economics (third year). 



321 





Girls'. 


Mission. 


Commerce. 




Per cent. 

0.0 

.0 

2 22.6 

46.8 


Per cent. 

0.0 

.0 

41.0 

80.0 


Per cent. 
0.0 




1.2 




•10.9 




46.0 








i One pupil. 

2 4 per cent of first half-year pupils; 40 per cent second half-year. 

3 All 4-year pupils. 

Table 142. — Pupils having taken fourth year government. 1 




Girls'. 


Mission. 


Commerce. 




Per cent. 

0.0 

.0 


Per cent. 

0.0 

.0 

.0 

2 100. 


Per cent. 
0.0 




; .0 






1.0 
97.5 


.0 






2 35.0 









Required in Girls' and Mission High Schools, elective in High School of Commerce. 
Per cent of second half-year pupils; none take it below this. 

Table 143. — Pupils having taken no history. 



Mission. 




Commerce. 



First year... 
Second year. 
Third year.. 
Fourth year. 



Per cent. 

79.0 

42.0 

11.0 

.0 



1 One pupil. 
Table 144. — Pupils having taken all history offered. 



First year.. 
Second year, 
Third year.. 
Fourth year 




Mission. 



Per cent. 

0.0 

.0 

.0 

70.0 



Commerce. 



Per cent. 

0.0 

.0 

11.8 

40.0 



Table 145. — Pupils having taken only ancient and United States history. 



- 


Girls'. 


Mission. 


Commerce. 


First year , 


Per cent. 

0.0 

.0 

.9 

10.6 


Per cent. 

0.0 
.0 
.0 

6.4 


Per cent. 
0.0 


Second year 


.0 


Third year 


.0 


Fourth year 


4.4 







322 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCTSCO. 



Table 146. — Pupils of present fourth-year class who ha 

social studies. 


ve taken the 


several 




Greek. 


Roman. 


Medie- 
val. 


Modern. 


English. 


Eco- 
nomics. 


United 
States. 


Govern- 
ment. 


Girls' High School 


Per cent. 
96.8 
92.0 
97.7 


Per cent. 
96.8 
92.0 
95.0 


Per cent. 
84.0 
87.0 
80.0 


Per cent. 
80.0 
84.0 
64.0 


Per cent. 

46.8 
80.0 
73.0 


Per cent. 
46.8 
80.0 
46.0 


Per cent. 
98.9 
100.0 
64.4 


Per cent 

97.5 


Mission High School 


100.0 


High School of Commerce 


35. a 



Unfortunately no data are available from other cities comparable 
with those in the foregoing tables. The impression is, however, that 
the social studies, and especially history, receive fully as much em- 
phasis in San Francisco as elsewhere, and probably more than is 
usual. This is especially true if the Lowell High School is taken 
into account, where the history courses of the first, second, and fourth 
years are required of all pupils. 

As would be expected, the smallest election of ancient history, is 
found in the High School of Commerce, the largest in the Girls' 
High School. But when we come to European and English history, 
the lead passes from the Girls' to the Mission High School. 

English history shows the lowest election, except in the High 
School of Commerce, where the lowest election is for United States 
history. The latter is required in the other two schools. 

Economics is not popular as compared with the history courses, 
and is least popular in the High School of Commerce, where it would 
seem to have especially practical applications. The lowest election 
for any social study is that for government in the High School of 
Commerce, where alone it is elective. 

The assertion is frequently made that, where four years of his- 
tory are offered, it is rare that pupils take it all, and that the courses 
elected are likely to be widely disconnected. The facts shown in 
Tables 144 and 145 are therefore somewhat surprising. An unex- 
pectedly large percentage of the pupils, in the last years of the high 
school have taken all the history offered in the high school, and the' 
number whose courses show a break from ancient to United States 
history is very small. 

Table 146 shows that all but a few pupils of the present fourth 
year class have had ancient history (about 95 per cent), while the 
percentage having had each of the succeeding social studies pro- 
gressively declines until the required fourth year work is reached; 

Another fact shown by these tables is that the percentage of pupils 
taking each of the several social studies steadily increases by Glasses 
from the first to the fourth year. Thus : In the Mission High School 
61 per cent of the first year pupils are taking ancient history, 64.6 
per cent of the second year class are taking or have had this subject, 
76 per cent of the third year class have had it, and 92 per cent of 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 323 

the fourth year class. The same relation holds true for each of the 
social studies and for all the high schools (Tables 137-141, 143). 
Does this suggest that pupils who do not elect social studies in the 
early years are more likely than others to be eliminated before gradu- 
ation? No such conclusion is justified from the data at hand, but 
the question is a suggestive one and worthy of investigation. 

In the Lowell High School the social studies of the third year alone 
are elective (except for a half-year course in " recent history " in 
the fourth year). The third years' studies are European history 
(entire year), English industrial history (one-half year), and eco- 
nomics (one-half year). Prior to this there are required: In th& 
first year, a half year of " ancient industry and life " and a half year 
of English history; in the second year, an entire year of ancient 
history (Greek and Eoman). The third year elections in this school 
in the fall of 1916 were as follows: 

European history 58 per cent of the class. 

English industrial history 15 per cent of the class. 

Economics 20 per cent of the class. 

This does not mean that 93 per cent of the class are taking a 
social study, for there are duplications here, a considerable number 
of those taking English industrial history and economics also taking 
the European history. 

The economics and industrial history are less popular than the 
economics in the Girls' and Mission High Schools, though more so 
than that in the High School of Commerce (see Table 141). So, 
also, the European history in this school shows a smaller election 
than in any of the other three schools (see Table 138). 

Summary. — The above facts show (1) that the offering of social 
studies signifies little regarding their election; (2) that ancient 
nistory is apparently considered of greater importance than later 
history (England and Europe) ; (3) that although United States 
history and government are required for graduation, it is only a 
select minority of the pupils entering high school who get the benefit 
of these subjects; (4) that a large number of pupils drop out of 
school without the training afforded by social study; and (5) that 
study in the field of economics is attained to by a mere handful of 
the pupils who enter and pass out of the high school. 

Adaptation of social studies to group interests. — A more difficult, 
and at the same time a more important, question is, To what extent 
are the social studies offered in the high schools adapted to the 
actual needs of the pupils who take them? 

(1) The High School of Commerce. — This school is designed pri- 
marily for pupils preparing directly for business vocations. While 
a college preparatory course is offered, comparatively few of the 



324 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



pupils are planning to go to college, as the following table shows 
(Table 147) : 

Table 147. — College preparatory pupils — High School of Commerce. 





First 
year. 


Second 
year: 


Third 
year. 


Fourth 
year. 


Total. 


Number reporting 


519 

20 


338 
21 


110 

14 


45 

8 


1,012 
63 


College preparatory 





Generally speaking, the economic status of the pupils is low. The 
majority of those reporting do not expect to complete a four-year 
course, and for the benefit of such, a two-year course is offered. The 
enrollment in the two courses is as follows (Table 148) : 

Table 148. — Enrollment by two-year and four-year courses — High School of 

Commerce. 





First 
year. 


Second 
year. 


Third 
year. 


Fourth 
year. 


Total. 


Two-year course 


336 
183 


205 
133 


U5 
95 


»1 

44 


557 




455 







i The 15 two-year course pupils in the third year are probably repeaters. The 1 in the fourth year is 
unexplained— perhaps an error in reporting. 

In a school of this type, if anywhere, there would be expected an 
adjustment of the course of study to the special requirements of the 
pupils. It would seem to be peculiarly desirable to give a special 
civic as well as a vocational turn to their education — not because such 
boys and girls need civic training more than other groups, but be- 
cause most of them will complete their schooling with the high 
school — in the majority of cases with only two years of high school — 
and will enter at once into the responsibilities of participation in the 
community's business life. 

An attempt at such adjustment is apparent. The school offers the 
standard four-year course of social studies. But in addition, and 
for the especial benefit of two-year pupils, elementary courses in 
business law, economics, and government are offered in the second 
year, optional with the course in European history. In this school 
alone the United States history and government of the fourth year 
are elective, perhaps to allow pupils greater freedom to elect subjects 
of more technical importance. 

The four-year course of study is organized into a number of cur- 
riculums or group arrangements. Groups I and II are college pre- 
paratory, and in the first year include English, mathematics, a 
foreign language, and history, differing from each other in that one 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 



325 



includes stenography and typewriting, the other bookkeeping, arith- 
metic, and penmanship. Groups III-V all include English, ste- 
nography, typewriting, bookkeeping, penmanship, and arithmetic. 
They differ only in the language offered — French, German, or 
Spanish. Group VI is like Groups III-V except that history is 
offered instead of a language. Group VII offers mathematics in- 
stead of a language or history, and Group VIII offers general science. 
It is understood that a pupil may change from one group to another. 
Ancient and European history occupy a less important place in 
this school than in the other schools, as might be anticipated. Table 
149 shows the elections in Greek and medieval history as compared 
with the Girls' and the Mission High Schools. 



Table 149. 



-Pupils taking Greek and medieval history in High School of Com- 
merce, Girls', and Mission Schools. 



High, schools. 


Greek history. 


Medieval history. 


Number. 


Percent. 


Number. 


Percent. 


High School of Commerce: 

Two-year pupils 

Four-year pupils 


173 
248 


31.0 
54.5 


23 
129 


10.0 
47.0 






Total 

Girls' High School 


421 
450 
330 


41.6 
90.0 
68.6 


152 1 30.8 
246 i 79.3 


Mission High School .' 


171 66.0 




• 





Although the courses in business law, economics, and government 
offered in the second year would seem to be more in accord with the 
requirements of the pupils than the ancient and European history, 
Table 150 shows that there is a larger election of Greek history 
among both two-year and four-year pupils than of the more " prac- 
tical " subjects. The same is true of the election of medieval history 
by four-year pupils, though not by two-year pupils. 

Table 150. — Pupils having elected Greek and medieval history and second-year 
law, government, and economics. 





First year. 


Second year. 


Third year. *"£" 

i 




Two- 
year 
pupils. 


Four- 
year 
pupils. 


To- 
tal. 


Two- 
year 
pupils. 


Four- 
year 
pupils. 


To- 
tal. 


Two- 
year 
pupils. 


Four- 
year 
pupils. 


To- 
tal. 


Total.» 


Greek 


Perct. 
18.7 


Per ct. 
23 


Perct. 
20 


Per ct. 
48.0 
9.0 
42.4 
22.0 
12.0 


Per ct. 

67.0 

21.0 

12.0 

6.8 

5.2 


Perct. 

56.0 
13.0 
30.7 
16.0 
9.0 


Per ct. 
66.6 
26.6 
33.3 
33.3 
33.3 


Per ct. 
78.0 
69.0 
8.4 
8.4 
4.2 


Perct.l Perct. 
76.0 ! 97.7 


Medieval 


63.6 80.0 


Law 








11.8 4.4 


Government (second year) 








11.8 4.4 


Economics (second year). . 








8.1 



















1 All four-year pupils. 



326 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 



Tables 151 and 152 show the number of two-year pupils who elected 
ancient or medieval history, or both, without taking any of the 
other social studies offered in the second year, and the number of 
two-year pupils who elected no social study at all. 

Table 151. — Tivo-year pupils in High School of Commerce electing ancient or 
medieval history or both, but no other social study. 



First year. 


Second year. 


Third year. 


Fourth year. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 




C 1 ) 


101 


49.0 


7 


46.6 




( 2 ) 










1 No pupils in the first year elected social studies other than history. 
« One pupil reported to be a two-year pupil in the fourth year took ancient history 
and no other social study, but he is not considered here. 



Table 152. 



-Two-year pupils in High School of Commerce electing no history 
or other social study. 



First year. 


Second year. 


Third year. 


Fourth year. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 




C 1 ) 


26 


12.6 


4 


26.6 















1 No other social studies than history taken by any pupils in this year. 

Of the 45 pupils reporting from the present fourth-year class, %) 
have taken United States history. All of these are four-year pupils, 
and five of them college preparatory. Sixteen out of 110 third-year 
pupils also report taking United States history. No United States 
history is offered in the two-year course. Seventy-three per cent of 
the present fourth-year class, and 41 per cent of the present third- 
year class report having taken English history. Only four two- 
year pupils are included in the number. 

The only pupils in the entire school who report having taken the 
fourth-year course in government are 7 of the 45 members of the 
present fourth-year class. Only 70, "or 14 per cent, of all pupils re- 
porting from the classes above the first year report' taking the second - 
year course in government. 

Thirty-three, or 21 per cent, of the third-year and fourth-year 
pupils report taking the third-year course in economics (only one 
pupil below the third year reports taking it). Forty-three, or 8.7 
per cent, of all pupils reporting from the classes above the first year 
report taking the second-year course in economics. 

The percentage of pupils from each class having taken business 
law is shown in Table 150. It is a total of 24 per cent of all pupils 
reporting above the first-year class. 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 327 

No courses in industrial history or commercial geography are 
offered in the school. 

Thus, while the course of social study in this high school has been 
modified considerably because of the special nature of the school. 
the facts given suggest the desirability of further adjustment to the 
special needs of the pupils. Eecommendations to this effect are 
made below on pages 337-339. 

(2) The Lowell High School. — This high school is the largest in 
the city, having an enrollment of more than 1,300 pupils, boys and 
girls. It is situated in a good residence district' where there is very 
little foreign admixture. The economic status of the pupils is of a 
high average. 

The school is in some respects the most conservative in the city. 
Its course of study is more largely prescribed than in other schools 
(see above, pp. 319, 323). The school might fairly be described as a 
u standard " high school of high grade with conservative tendencies. 
If there is any school in the city where the standard four-unit course 
in history and social science might be expected to meet requirements, 
it should be the Lowell school. At two or three points, however, 
noteworthy modifications of the standard course have been made. 

(a) The regulation Greek and Eoman history courses have been 
taken out of the first year. Instead, there is required of all pupils 
in the first half of the first year a course in " ancient life and indus- 
try." It is described as " a preparation for the study of history," 
and seeks to suggest the meaning of history and to give a general 
picture of past conditions. In the second half of this year the his- 
tory of England is taken up. Here the pupils are introduced to the 
study of a single nation — " the one nearest the pupil's interest after 
his own country." 

(b) Ancient history is required of all pupils throughout the 
second year instead of the first, and in addition to the introductory 
course in " ancient life- and industry." Pupils entering from other 
high schools are allowed to substitute an equivalent for this course, 
however. 

(c) In the third year, the pupil may take a social study or not as 
he chooses. If he takes one, he is given an option between a year of 
European history (medieval and modern) and a year of English 
industrial history and economics. 

(d) In addition to the required course in United States history 
and government there is offered in the fourth year a course in " Ke- 
cent history " for one-half year, two hours per week. 

These modifications of the standard course are avowedly to meet 
more closely the needs of the pupils. 

(3) The Mission High School. — This is the smallest high school 
in the city, with an enrollment of less than 600 pupils, although it 



328 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

is located in one of the most densely populated parts of the city 
where the elementary schools are said to be crowded. The people 
are largely of the wage-earning classes, but no technical work is 
given in the school. The Humboldt night school is held in the Mis- 
sion High School building with an enrollment of 1,200 or 1,400 
students, and with technical instruction. 

The course of social study in this school is of the straight tradi- 
tional type, with no evidence in its organization of any effort to 
adapt the work to group needs. 

(4) The Polytechnic High School. — In this technical school there 
were, until a year and a half ago, but two courses in history : A course in 
" general history "• in the first year, and a course in United States his- 
tory and government in the fourth year. This has now been changed, 
with the intent not only of increasing the amount of work offered* 
but also of adapting it to the purposes of the school. " General 
European history" is now given throughout the first two years, 
embracing ancient and modern history. Economics and industrial 
history are offered in the third year. United States history and 
government are required in the fourth year. There is no course in 
English history to correspond with that in the other schools. 

No class in economics was formed this term, and only 22 pupils are 
enrolled in the class in industrial history. This is explained on the 
ground that under the reorganization these courses have not been 
fairly started. It is said that hereafter there will be classes in both 
subjects each term. 

A course in vocational guidance is required of all first-year pupils 
in this school. 

(5) The Girls' High School. — The straight four-unit course in 
history, government, and economics is offered in this school, as in 
the Mission High School, without modification. 

//. Methods of Instruction. 

1. Instruction in government. — The general impression obtained 
from observation is that instruction in this subject is formal, closely 
bound by the textbook, too purely informational. There is more or 
less coordination with United States history, in some cases the gov- 
ernment and history being carried together throughout the entire 
fourth year. One or two recitations were observed in which this 
correlation seemed to be especially vital. In some of the schools 
considerable attention is given to State and local government, but 
even this part of the work is formal and lacking in real vitality in 
most cases. 

Opportunity for actual observation of class work in this subject 
was so limited that a series of questions was submitted to the prin- 
cipals of the five high schools. Eeturns were received from four 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 



329 



of the five, in each case signed by the head of the department of 
history. 

Textbooks, — Three reported the use of the same regular text in 
civil government, separate from the history text; one reported the 
use of a combined American history and government text. Three 
of the four made objections to the text, the fourth made no comment 
on this point. The comments made were "insufficient local mate- 
rial," "too general," "not practical illustrations," "not clear and 
definite," " do not interest the student," " not written for those who 
must be shown both the beginnings and the relations of things," 
"a book should be used which technically describes the State in 
which the pupil lives, also his city." 

Supplementary boohs. — A considerable list of supplementary books 
was mentioned, including such standard works as Bryce's " American 
Commonwealth " and other well-known texts nr American govern- 
ment. Mention was made in one case of a California civics text, 
the constitution of the State, the charter and ordinances of San 
Francisco, and in one case a dictated notebook on the Federal Con- 
stitution. The extent to which, and the methods by which, these 
materials are used was not explained. 

Time allotment. — All agreed that the time for the study of gov- 
ernment should be doubled — a year instead of a half year. As to 
the possible means of securing this additional time the following 
suggestions were made: 

Since United States history is given in the grammar grades, it could be 
omitted in the high school, or it could be given in the third year in place 
of English history and the entire fourth year given to government. 

A compulsory course in municipal government might be placed in the first 
year. 

More complete separation between government and United States history. 

Time allotment for taking classes outside for investigation. Lectures and 
talks by public officials. 

The apportionment of time as it now is and as it should be among 
National, State, and local government is stated as follows: 



Apportionment of time. 



As now apportioned. 

! 


Suggested apportionment. 


' Girls' 

High 

I School. 

i 


Commer- 
cial High 
School. 


Polytech- 
nic High 
School. 


Mission 
High 
School. 


Girls' 
High 
School. 


Commer- 
cial High 
School. 


Polytech- 
nic High 
School. 


Mission 

High 

School. 


National 


Per cent. 
40 

1, 10 

;;;;;;(} so 


Per cent. 
25 


Per cent. 
90 


Per cent. 
50 
30 

20 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 

25 

25 

/ 25 

\ 25 


Per cent. 
60 
15 

| 25 


Per cent. 
40 


State 


25 1 5 




30 


County 

City # .. 




30 


\ 25 


' 







330 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

These figures are intended to be only approximate. The striking 
thing about them is the divergence among the high schools in prac- 
tice and in opinion. Variation is a good thing in so far as it indi- 
cates adaptation to group needs; but there is nothing to indicate 
that this is the explanation here. It indicates rather a lack of coop- 
eration and agreement among the high schools as to some general 
policy. 

Devices to supplement instruction. — Two schools report the use of 
civic scrap books; 2 regular drill in current events; 3 more or less 
debate and discussion of public questions ; 3 the use of the " Literary 
Digest" or similar publications; 3 suggest talks by public officials 
as a desirable thing, but none provides for them; 1 mentions visits 
to courts and public offices; 1 (Girls' High School) the use of news- 
papers, municipal records, ordinances, etc.; and 1 (also the Girls' 
High School) the securing of ballots and a demonstration of 
their use. 

Field investigations, surveys, etc. — Three schools report no field 
investigations, no surveys of sanitary or other conditions, no sys- 
tematic study of health reports, appropriation bills, or similar docu- 
ments. One school reports field investigation "by attendance upon 
public functions of various kinds," the study of appropriation bills, 
and sanitary surveys. 

Adequacy of course. — One school reports satisfaction with its 
course ; the other three say that " it comes too late in the course," 
"not sufficient time nor opportunity," "more dignity and attention 
should be given the course." 

The above data suggest that there is a feeling that the instruction 
in government does not accomplish all that should be expected of it ; 
that it is formal and of the textbook type ; that there is considerable 
divergence in methods, not by reason of adaptations to group needs, 
but because of lack of agreement as to general principles ; that there 
is almost no field work or contact with actual conditions and prob- 
lems of community life, the only school reporting such work being 
the High School of Commerce, where there is an exceptionally small 
enrollment in the courses in government. 

2. Instruction in history. — One teacher of history, commenting 
upon a recitation by her class, remarked that she and her class were 
much more interested in present-day questions than in the mere facts 
of history, and asked, " What is the value of history unless it throws 
light on present-day questions ? " Her class was at the time study- 
ing colonial Massachusetts, and more particularly the extent to 
which democracy had been realized in that colony. The class dis- 
tinctly seemed to have a motive for the inquiry into colonial times, 
and this was their interest in certain present questions updh which 
the historical facts seemed to throw light. The impression made by 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 331 

the discussion was that the class had under consideration a present- 
day question that had a history. They were not following a mere 
chronological sequence of events, but were involved in a problem. 
Use was being made of material in portions of the textbook dealing 
with later periods in order to trace successive steps in the evolution 
of democracy. Not only was the problem one of the present day, 
but it was of peculiar interest to these pupils at this time because a 
political campaign was in progress and because in California the 
women vote and other advanced ideas of democracy prevail. In fact, 
the girls of the class showed, perhaps, a keener interest than the boys 
present. A casual visitor would have had difficulty in determining 
whether the recitation was one in history or in civics; it was both. 
The pupils were not concerned about the " subject" they were taking; 
they were interested in a problem that has historical, social, and 
civic aspects. 

In contrast, the pupils in another class were haltingly repeating 
the inconsequential details of the reigns of the minor emperors in 
the decadent period of the Eoman Empire, and in another the 
succession of kings in ancient Egypt was being given, with scraps 
of information relating to the social and political life of the time. 
These were pure memory exercises, based on what happened to be 
included within certain pages of a textbook. 

A common practice in many history recitations is the frank use 
of a notebook as a basis for recitation, the pupil referring to it fre- 
quently and even reading from it in reply to questions by the teacher. 
The matter in the notebooks seemed to be little more than a repro- 
duction of textbook material, probably copied in the process of 
" studying." 

Between the two extremes of method illustrated above, classes 
were visited in which no exception could be taken to the excellence 
of the teaching as measured by formal academic standards. The 
pupils were apparently learning the facts of history, not even greatly 
restricted by the limitations of the textbook. But with few excep- 
tions, there was lacking the vital spark which characterized the first 
recitation described. Learning history seemed to be the end of all 
things; it was the "subject" that seemed to count for most, while 
its application to the pupil's understanding of his own life situations 
was lost sight of. 

3. Instruction in economics. — In all of the high schools of San 
Francisco the election of economics is lower than for any other 
social study. There is, however, a growing sentiment in favor of 
the subject as a high-school study because of its intensely " practical " 
nature both from an individual and a social standpoint. The new 
emphasis upon vocational and prevocational education would seem 



332 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

to give to economics a peculiar importance, and especially so in com- 
mercial and technical high schools. 

The low election of economics, which is probably no more marked 
in San Francisco than elsewhere, is doubtless due in part to the fact 
that this subject is the latest social study to be introduced in the 
high school and has been wedged into an already full curriculum. It 
is in competition with history, which is strongly entrenched. Depart- 
ments of social study have been almost exclusively departments of 
history, and any subject that threatens the elimination or curtail- 
ment of the history course has to make a hard fight. 

Most of the work in economics seen in the San Francisco high schools 
was either of a perfunctory character, little more being attempted 
than to drill the pupils in the contents of a textbook, or else it gave 
the impression of floundering. One or two notable exceptions will be 
referred to. Indifference and apathy marked classes which were 
being put through a catechism of questions such as, What is eco- 
nomics? What is wealth? What is value? What is utility? Or 
those which were discussing in the abstract such matters as the 
" factors in production." 

One class was visited in which the teacher had abandoned the 
prescribed textbook and was attempting to substitute a course on 
more broadly " sociological " lines. The pupils were reading aloud 
in turn from a recently published book dealing with a variety of 
modern social problems. The teacher was uncertain of her ground, 
as she herself fjrankly said, and the class evinced no great interest 
in what they were doing. This teacher felt deeply the need of a 
really vital course for her class of girls, and was rather hopeless in 
the face of the textbook problem. 

Another teacher reported having attempted for a time to teach 
without a textbook. The results, she said, were in many ways satis- 
factory, but the method proved too laborious and time consuming to 
be continued. 

Of the classes actually observed in recitation there was but one to 
which the subject of economics seemed to be a living thing. The 
pupils in this class were discussing with their teacher a question of 
vital importance to themselves and their families, viz, the cost of 
living. No textbook was seen, though the teacher said one was used, 
more as a supplement than otherwise. The boys and girls were 
contributing facts from their experience at home and from ob- 
servation and current reading. These facts were the basis of dis- 
cussion. They were not studying a science, much less a book; they 
were wrestling with a reality in their own experience, drawing upon 
the science of economics under the guidance of their teacher as it 
helped them to understand their problem. 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 333 

4. Instruction in business law. — This subject is taught only in the 
High School of Commerce, and but one recitation was observed. Of 
the 34 pupils in the class, 27 were taking a two-year course, 5 a four- 
year course, 2 were undecided. The same general criticism may be 
made of the recitation observed as of the instruction in other social 
studies: It was not closely enough related to the experience and 
needs of the pupils. The topic under discussion was " Contracts." 
The discussion was a simplified form of what one might expect to 
hear in a law school. One could not help wondering why the 
point of departure should not have been the very real and im- 
minent fact that most of these pupils would within a year be seeking 
a " job " and entering into a more or less formal " contract " with 
an employer; and why the whole matter of the relations between 
themselves and their future employers, the responsibility of each 
to the other and of both to the community, and similar matters could 
not have been "talked over" on all sides in a thoroughly concrete 
and realistic manner. 

5. Summary. — Instruction in the social studies in the San Fran- 
cisco high schools has too exclusively for its end the storing up of 
information for its own sake ; it places too much faith in the pupils' 
ability to apply this information to situations as they arise in the 
future and fails to give practice in applying it to situations of 
present interest and importance to the pupil and his community; 
it does not make a sufficient point of helping the pupil to organize 
already existing knowledge or knowledge that he may acquire by 
observation; it does not really get at the pupil's motives, either for 
present study or for present and future conduct. In short, the in- 
struction in the social studies affords very little real training for 
citizenship except in so far as imparting information of a formal 
character may contribute to this end. 

C. ORGANIC CONTINUITY OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN THE 

SOCIAL STUDIES. 

Reference is made above on page 318 to the lack of organic con- 
tinuity in the civic education of the child in the elementary school. 
The absence of such continuity in the secondary school and between 
elementary and secondary instruction is equally striking. 

One high- school teacher suggested that inasmuch as United 
States history is taught in the grades, it might be dropped from the 
high-school course of study (in order to provide more time for the 
study of government). While it is not uncommon for pupils to 
question the value of taking United States history in the high school 
on the ground that they have " had it " in the grades, it is a little 
surprising that a high-school teacher of history should take this 
position. The fact is apparently lost sight of that the pupil himself 



334 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN PRANCISCO. 

is growing, that his mental and social interests and experience have 
broadened and deepened with the passage of each year, and that in 
the high school he is able not only to comprehend more facts of 
history than in the earlier period but that he is also able to use 
already acquired facts'in his processes of growth as he could not use 
them earlier. The later course affords opportunity for a necessary 
revision of concepts and judgments in the light of more mature 
experience. 

There is, however, no likelihood that the high-school course in 
United States history will be dispensed with. The point now is with 
reference to the relation that exists between it and the course in the 
same subject in the elementary school. As a matter of fact the 
former is very largely a duplication of the latter as implied by the 
teacher quoted above — a duplication excused largely on the ground 
that pupils do not remember what they learned in the grades below 
anyhow, or that they were not well taught. 

If the pupil forgets what he learned of United States history in 
the elementary school before he reaches the last year of the high 
school, it may be due in part to faulty methods of teaching; but it is 
more especially because he has had no use for it in the interim. The 
knowledge and thinking power acquired by the pupil at one stage of 
his education should be conceived of as working capital in each 
succeeding stage, and should be used as such. In the case of United 
States history, for example, there is abundant opportunity for such 
continuous use of acquired knowledge. It may be used in the com- 
munity civics of the last half of the eighth grade ; in the various his- 
tory courses of the high school by way of comparison or contrast ; in 
economics; and in the work in English. The historical capital of 
the pupil thus becomes an investment, productive from the start, 
and continually growing by use. It is made to enrich the pupil's 
work in other studies. And, finally, it affords a real foundation in 
the pupil's consciousness upon which to build a course in American 
history in the fourth year of the high school of vastly richer content 
and scope than would otherwise be possible. 

What has been said regarding United States history is equally 
applicable to the other social studies. One high-school teacher, when 
questioned about the eighth-grade work in civics, made the typical 
reply, u I don't know what they are doing, but I suppose about the 
same thing that was done when I went to school." Manifestly no 
vital continuity in the pupil's social education, of the kind suggested 
in the last paragraph, could be looked for under such conditions. 
Pupils in some of the third-year economics classes were questioned 
as to whether they had ever before had any economic study. The 
replies were in the negative ; economics does not " come " until the 
third year. And yet geography, history, civics, and other subjects 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 335 

in both elementary and high schools teem with opportunities to 
emphasize economic concepts. It is apparent that these opportuni- 
ties are not utilized to any appreciable extent; and when the few 
pupils who elect economics come to it in the third year it is as a 
wholly new experience with no relation to anything that has gone 
before or that is to come afterwards. 

It is important that the course of study for early grades should be 
carefully planned with due regard to what is to follow later ; but it 
is vastly more important that the instruction given in the later years 
should grow directly out of that which has gone before and which 
has been woven into the pupil's experience. 

Cycle organization of the social studies. — In order to secure the 
desired organic continuity and cumulative effect of the civic training 
afforded by the social studies, and at the same time to insure a maxi- 
mum of completeness in the social study of pupils who leave school 
at various points before graduation, a " cycle " organization of the 
social studies offered in both elementary and secondary schools is 
recommended. This is in conformity with the recommendation of 
the committee on social studies of the National Education Associa- 
tion as contained in the report of the committee issued by the United 
States Bureau of Education in Bulletin, 1916, No. 28. The plan, 
however, should be carefully adapted to local conditions in San 
Francisco. 

The first cycle should embrace the first six grades of the elementary 
school; the second, Grades VII-IX; the third, Grades X-XII. 

Elementary cycle: Grades I-VI. — No radical change in the course 
of study of this period is needed, but merely slight readjustments, 
shifting of emphasis, new correlations. As now, elements of both 
European and American history should be included, and the Ameri- 
can history should include local history. Civics need have no sepa- 
rate time allotment, but, if made, it should not be earlier than the 
fifth grade. All through the period geography, history, and civics 
should be treated less as distinct subjects and more as aspects of the 
same life problem, organized with definite reference to each other 
and to the actual life of the pupil. (See p. 316.) 

Any plan that is adopted should be flexible and carefully adapted 
to local requirements. But a suggestive organization may be found 
in United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1915, No. IT : " Civic 
Education in Elementary Schools as Illustrated in Indianapolis." 
Philadelphia and Cincinnati are other cities with suggestive plans 
which differ in detail from that of Indianapolis. 

For suggestion for the organization of the work of the first three 
or four grades without, emphasis upon " subjects" see Bulletin, 1915, 
No. 17, pages 9-13, United States Bureau of Education. 



336 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRAN CISCO. 

Geography in particular should be relieved of its formalism and 
by the sixth grade studied largely by the "problem method." (See 
Bui., 1916, No. 28, pp. 18-20, U. S. Bu. of Educ.) 

Occupational life and certain elementary economic ideas should be 
emphasized throughout. This is the forerunner of more systematic 
economic study of later cycles. The new Philadelphia plan empha- 
sizes this aspect of the work especially in the sixth grade. See also 
the Cincinnati plan, where there is a " Civic and vocational di- 
rector " ; and also Bulletin, 1915, No. 17, pages 13, 14. 

Emphasis upon civic relations and concepts should constantly in- 
crease with a climax in the sixth grade. (See Bui., 1915, No. 17, 
pp. 10-16.) 

Junior cycle: Grades VII-IX. — The same range of social study 
should be included as in the elementary cycle: geographical, his- 
torical, civic, economic. It should be on a higher plane and with 
new angles of approach. 

Seventh grade. — Development of certain threads of European his- 
tory that culminate in the period of discovery, exploration, and colo- 
nization, which should be included in the course. 

The geography should relate directly to the history of the grade, 
m which it is a vitally important factor. Both the history and the 
geography afford opportunity for the emphasis of economic relations. 

The civics of the grade may or may not have a separate time al- 
lotment. Many of the topics of the earlier part of the eighth- grade 
civics course may profitably be taken up in connection with the ex- 
ploration and colonization of America. Much time may thus be 
saved for the eighth-grade civics. 

In connection with all these subjects local history has rich oppor- 
tunity, especially in California. 

Eighth grade. — American history from approximately the year 
1700, either completed in the first half of the year or parallel with 
civics throughout the year. The point of view should be that of the 
development of the " national community," and the concepts should 
be correlated closely with those of the civics. 

The geography of the year should relate directly to the history. 
Emphasis should be given to international aspects of our history 
and geography, and especially in this grade to South American rela- 
tions. $ 

Community civics should have an important place in this grade 
as at present, but it should be thoroughly reorganized to conform in 
its point of view, spirit, and methods with the "community civics 
type " which is clearly implied in the printed course of study and 
which is discussed in this report. (See pp. 304, 308.) A more de- 
tailed discussion of the organization and methods of the subject may 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 337 

be found in United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1915, No. 23. 
and 1916, No. 28, pages 22-24. This reorganization will be aided by 
adopting the recommendations relative to administrative reorgani- 
zation. (See pp. 314, 366.) 

Many pupils will probably continue to leave school at the end of 
the eighth year. For such, the course in American history, geogra- 
phy, and civics should in reality be a " crowning course." It is be- 
lieved, however, that an eighth-grade course organized on the plan 
suggested will tend to keep larger numbers in school at least for 
another year. This, in fact, should be one of the primary aims of 
the eighth and ninth grade work. 

Hygiene, especially of the community type, has place in this 
grade. Close correlation should be made not only with the civics and 
geography, but also with the physical and recreational activities of 
the school. 

Ninth grade. — The present traditional ancient-history course 
should be dropped, except possibly as an elective for such pupils as 
have a distinct preference for classical study (they would be few in 
number) or who may still be required to take such a course for en- 
trance to particular colleges. Even then it should be reorganized 
with special reference to the interests of the pupils, and perhaps 
offered later in the course. 

There are various- possibilities for social study in this year that 
are preferable to the traditional ancient-history course. Some such 
plan as that now in use in the Lowell High School in the ninth year 
is an. improvement. But a new course, primarily of a civic-economic 
character, is here recommended. Arguments in favor of such a 
course are given in United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 
1916, No. 28, pages 26-28, 32; other possible lines of development 
are also suggested there (pp. 25, 26). 

A study of the civic-economic type is peculiarly desirable in the 
High School of Commerce, especially in the two-year course, and in 
the Polytechnic High School. It should be organized largely around 
the vocational interest which is likely to be strongly developed in the 
pupils of these schools. It could be made to fulfill the purpose of 
the course in vocational guidance now required in the Polytechnic 
High School, but with better perspective and broader scope. In the 
High School of Commerce this course, together with a course in the 
tenth year mentioned below, should take the place of the present 
courses in second-year economics and business law. 

Whatever the direction taken by the ninth-year social study, it 
should at all events be in reality a " crowning " course for the cycle, 
affording opportunity for the pupil to use the capital acquired in 
93815—17 22 



338 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

earlier courses ; and it should also afford a point of departure for the 
social studies of the succeeding cycle. 

The difficulty presented by the lack of suitable textbooks for such 
a course is clearly recognized; but the importance of the change is 
sufficiently great to warrant a beginning. 

Senior cycle: Grades X-XII. — As in the case of the ninth-year 
work, the difficulties presented by the lack of appropriate textbooks 
and by the influence of traditional methods are considerable. The 
following recommendations indicate the direction of immediate en- 
deavor. 

Heads of departments of social study should take the initiative in 
reorganizing, in cooperation with their teachers, the courses of social 
study in the last three years of the high school in the spirit, at least, 
of the suggestions here made. 

At least until suitable textbooks are forthcoming, greater inde- 
pendence of any single text should be cultivated and a variety of 
books used by the pupils in their reading. 

Tenth year. — Except in the two-year course of the High School 
of Commerce, which is referred to below, a course in European his- 
tory to approximately the year 1700 should be offered in the tenth 
year (second year high school). This course should include what- 
ever is necessary of ancient history, on the one hand, and the period 
of exploration and colonization of America at the other extreme. It 
should also include the history of England. This course should 
differ from the old " general history " courses in its organization. 
The latter is merely a summary statement of facts and events in 
chronological order. The course proposed should be organized on 
a topical or problem basis. It necessarily and happily implies the 
omission of much that has been taught in ancient and European 
history and the selection and organization of subject matter with 
reference to current interests, and largely on the basis of the pupils' 
experience in connection with the social studies of the preceding 
cycle. (See U. S. Bu. of Educ. Bui., 1916, No. 28, pp. 35-52.) 

In the two-year course of the High School of Commerce it is 
suggested that a course in American history, rather than in Euro- 
pean history, be given in the tenth year, which is the last year of the 
pupil's schooling. In this course especial attention should be given 
to economic aspects, including the progress made by government in 
dealing with economic and socio-economic problems. 

Eleventh year. — In all four-year courses in the several high schools 
a course in European history since, approximately, the year 1700 
should be offered at least in the first half of the eleventh year, though 
it might profitably include the entire year if time can be found for it. 
It should include the English history of the period. 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 339 

If the European history of this year is restricted to one-half of the 
year, a course in American history may be begun with the second 
half of the year, in which large emphasis might well be placed upon 
international relations, including relations with South America. The 
geographical, economic, and political factors should be emphasized, 
and the whole related clearly to the pupils' earlier study. 

Twelfth year. — It is intended that the work here recommended for 
the twelfth year, together with that of the eleventh year suggested 
above, entirely supplant the independent courses in economics and 
government now offered in these two years. 

It is urged that an attempt be made to develop a new course in 
" Problems of democracy " for this year ; a course that will be con- 
crete, and that will deal with current problems that have economic, 
political, and more broadly sociological aspects. A further explana- 
tion and justification of such course is given in United States Bureau 
of Education Bulletin, 1916, No. 28, pages 52-56. So far as known, 
there is no suitable textbook available as a basis for such course at 
present. It is recommended that a committee of high-school teach- 
ers, including heads of departments, be appointed to develop such a 
course experimentally, and that it be tried out in at least one of the 
high schools. 

Such course will not supplant a course in American history, but 
will make the latter much more effective. Two methods of handling 
the American history are suggested : Either devote the first half of 
the twelfth year to a course in American history, or to a continuation 
of the course begun in the eleventh year, and of the general character 
suggested for that of the eleventh year, reserving the second half 
of the twelfth year for the problems of democracy; or, what is in 
some respects preferable, give the entire year to problems of de- 
mocracy, developing the historical aspect of these problems coinci- 
dently. 

No separate courses in industrial history, either American or Eng- 
lish, is recommended. But the industrial or economic aspects of 
history should receive due emphasis in all history courses in relation 
to other aspects. In the High School of Commerce and in the 
Polytechnic High School the economic aspects of all history should 
be especially emphasized, but not to the neglect of their relations 
to political and social development. 

PUPIL ACTIVITIES AS A MEANS OF CIVIC EDUCATION. 

A. — Elementaey Schools. 

Conduct of classes. — The preparation of lessons and the conduct 
of recitations afford opportunity for activity that in itself may have 
civic educational value. Reference has already been made (p. 312) 



340 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 

to the value of pupil activity in assembling and organizing materials 
for class use. With due allowance for exceptional cases, there is in 
San Francisco a certain passivity on the part of pupils in the 
classroom ; little of the " give and take " of discussion ; little of the 
alertness to contribute new materials and new points of view for 
consideration. Initiative and group action are not systematically cul- 
tivated. A class community has all the essential characteristics of 
any other community, and its conduct should afford practice in 
community living. This should be true of classes in all subjects, 
but it has peculiar value in relation to instruction in civics. 

Opening exercises. — Reports from 68 schools indicated that the 
salute to the flag, the pledge of allegiance to State and Nation, patri- 
otic songs and recitations, and talks on moral, civic, or patriotic topics 
are quite general in the opening exercises. But little use is made of 
the assembly as an opportunity to train pupils in the exercise of re- 
sponsibility, initiative, and cooperation in organizing and executing 
the program. 

Pupil participation in school government. — No formal organiza- 
tion exists in any of the elementary schools of San Francisco for 
purposes of " self-government " — nothing on the order of the " school 
city," for example, or the " school republic." 

Principals showed a divergence of opinion as to what constitutes 
self-government. The comments of some who said they had none 
in their schools indicated that they really had more than other 
principals who claimed to apply it in some measure. One refers to 
a pupil-monitor system as a form of self-government, while another 
speaks of the fact that " no monitors are allowed " in her school as 
equally good evidence of it. Many point to the formal order of 
the " yard lines " passing at recess under the leadership of pupil 
" line captains " who are chosen by the class ; while much less fre- 
quently the informal passing of classes through the corridors with 
no "line formation" and no obtrusive supervision, but nevertheless 
in orderly quiet, was offered in evidence of pupil responsibility in 
the discipline of the school. 

A very common statement was that the pupils were " taught to be 
self-respecting," or " to practice self-control." The golden rule was 
given as the guiding principle in one or two instances. Several 
mentioned an "honor system" under which it is possible for* classes 
to be left without teachers without disastrous results. Pupil cap- 
taincy of athletic teams and management of games on the playground, 
and solicitude of older pupils for the rights of younger children at 
play were occasionally mentioned. In a few cases some systematic 
responsibility for the care of blackboards, room decoration, the pro- 
tection of walls, furniture, toilets, etc., against defacement is be- 
stowed upon pupils. In the Ethan Allen Parental School there 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 341 

seemed to be a systematic effort to develop pupil responsibility for 
the orderly running of the school. In this school the truancy prob- 
lem is handled, according to the principal, almost wholly by the 
pupils themselves, not by a system of espionage, but through per- 
suasion and friendly advice to delinquents by their friends who have 
come to take pride in their school. The observer saw a new pupil 
enter the school in tears. He was turned over almost immediately 
to some boys who were near at hand, who seemed to remove his 
terror at once, instructed him as to his first steps, and took him to 
his bath. A half -hour later the newcomer was seen participating in 
playground exercises with a smile of contentment on his face. 

In the Oriental School (all Chinese), graduates from which are 
said to have had a part in establishing the Chinese Eepublic, the 
teacher of civics said that attempts at self-government were wholly 
misunderstood. She gave by way of illustration the instance of 
a pupil who replied that "he was not a slave" when requested to 
clean the blackboard ; and that of another who complained of being 
" treated like a dog " when asked to perform some slight service. 

The degree in which responsibility is consciously shared by pupils 
is usually very slight and often qualified by rather rigid supervision.. 
Or it is shared by a very few pupils rather than by all pupils. In 
one or two instances evidence was seen of purely arbitrary discipline, 
in which fear was the controlling factor. 

A typical instance of organized pupil participation in school man- 
agement on a conservative basis as a means of civic training is given 
in the United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1915, No. 17 T 
page 31 : 

It consists in a realization of the theory that the school is a real community 
with characteristics of its own, although possessing certain fundamental charac- 
teristics in common with all communities. Of this community, pupils and teach- 
ers are members, with certain common interests. Cooperation is the keynote 
of the community life. The realization of this cooperation is seen in the class- 
rooms, in study halls, in the assembly room, in the corridors, on the playground. 
It manifests itself in the method of preparing and conducting recitations; in 
the care of school property ; in protecting the rights of younger children ; in 
maintaining the sanitary condition of building and ground; in the elimination 
of cases of " discipline " and of irregularity of attendance ; in the preparation 
and conduct of opening exercises, school entertainments, and graduating exer- 
cises ; in beautifying school grounds ; in the making of repairs or equipment for 
" our school " ; in fact, in every aspect of the school life. 

Particular instances of almost all of the kinds of pupil participa- 
tion here suggested may be found in the San Francisco schools. But 
there is, apparently, no general effort to organize them as a definite 
and regular means of civic education, nor to relate them to the in- 
structional work of the school for the same end. 



342 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCu. 

Playground activities.— The schools of San Francisco are very 
much cramped for play space. Principals and teachers feel the de- 
ficiency very keenly. 

About half of the principals of the city reported that they use 
playground activity as a means of moral and civic instruction. Their 
statements, however, were usually very general. "Team work," 
a fair play," "respect for authority," "obedience," "respect for 
rights of others," " care of property," " self-control," "leadership," 
are among the qualities most commonly mentioned as the end in 
view. In no case was information given as to the methods by which 
these qualities are developed. 

The other half of the principals reported that there was either no 
use of playground activities for civic ends, or that the playground 
was " too small," " too confined," or that " nothing definite," " nothing 
systematic," was done. 

There are in San Francisco 10 public playgrounds distributed ac- 
cording to natural geographic divisions of the city. These, together 
with 2 public swimming pools, are under the control of a playground 
commission which serves without pay. In addition the board of 
education has turned over to the playground commission 20 school 
yards and certain accessories in the school buildings to be operated 
as public playgrounds from 3 to 5 p. m. on school days and from 9 
to 12 a. m. on Saturdays. The playground commission pays operat- 
ing expenses. 1 The president of the board of education is ex officio 
member of the playground commission; and the supervision of the 
public playgrounds is in the hands of a director who is appointed 
jointly by the board of education and the playground commission, 
and who also has general direction of physical training and athletics 
in all public schools and of the social centers. The two administra- 
tive bodies seem to be working together harmoniously at the present 
time. Yet there is no good reason for the double administrative 
machinery, and many reasons why the public schools and the public 
playgrounds should be under the same control. In other words, a 
reorganized board of education should also be the playground com- 
mission. 

The director of the public playgrounds is greatly overworked by 
reason of having under his care the physical training, athletics, and 
playground activities of the public elementary and high schools, as 
well as the community centers of the city, including music and lecture 
centers. His burden is made the greater by the fact that his subordi- 
nate playground supervisors are in many cases inadequately trained 
for their work. He should be relieved of a considerable part of this 

iThe budget of the playground commission for the year 1917-18 provides for 10 more 
school-yard playgrounds, making 30 in all. 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 343 

work by some such plan as that suggested on page 361 of this 
report. 

In addition to the relief of the playground director from some of 
his widely varied duties, the most urgent playground needs at pres- 
ent are for more adequate school playground space and better trained 
playground supervisors. 

Pupil organizations. — Forty out of 68 principals reported that 
there are no pupil organizations in their schools. Nineteen referred 
to " athletic organizations " or " ball teams " ; debating clubs were 
mentioned twice; orchestras and drum and bugle corps five times; a 
choral organization once; an editorial staff of a school paper once; 
dancing clubs twice ; a dramatic club once ; other clubs five times. 

Many organizations of elementary pupils should probably not be 
encouraged ; and there seems to be no danger of overorganization in 
the San Francisco schools. Such organizations as exist within the 
school should not only be of direct educational value to the individual 
pupil, but should also contribute definitely to the community life 
of the school as a whole. Athletic teams, school orchestras, and drum 
corps have a well-known value in the development of a " school 
spirit," which implies a consciousness of and loyalty to group inter- 
ests. Dancing clubs, sewing clubs, debating clubs, and the like may 
have a definite place in the life of the school under certain condi- 
tions; but the question suggests itself how far the feeling of need 
for " clubs " may indicate a lack of provision for the wants of the 
children by the school as such. The school should make regular 
provision for dancing, sewing, debating, and the like without the 
necessity of " clubs " to supply the deficiency, and the opportunity 
for group organization and for a measure of self-government should 
be afforded in the regular " classes." 

Gardening activities. — A detailed account of the gardening activi- 
ties and possibilities in San Francisco, and of the educational oppor- 
tunities offered by them, is given in another chapter of this report 
(Ch. XVI). These activities, when adequately organized and super- 
vised, afford peculiar opportunities for the emphasis of civic ideals 
and the cultivation of civic qualities. In illustration of this may 
be mentioned the opportunity for children to participate in the beau- 
tification of their neighborhood and city, the utilization of idle land, 
an appreciation of the civic value of industry and thrift, responsi- 
bility for the care of public property, cooperation with the depart- 
ments of health, parks, public works, etc. Gardening is one of the 
few activities in which the children can, with organization and su- 
pervision, make an appreciable contribution to the economic and 
civic welfare of the community at the present time, and by so doing 
receive civic training of inestimable yalue. 



344 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

In fact, school gardening hardly exists in the city, and home gar- 
dening under school supervision has not been developed at all. A 
few principals and at least one of the deputy superintendents have 
made persistent efforts to establish this work, but with little support 
from the educational or other authorities. An attitude of discour- 
agement prevails among those most interested in the matter. 

Thrift. — A savings system is in operation throughout the schools 
of the city. Unquestionably the school savings bank tends to culti- 
vate habits of thrift on the part of the children and affords oppor- 
tunity for organized lessons in personal and public economy. The 
community no less than the individual will profit by the formation of 
such habits in the younger generation of citizens; the movement in 
the schools has a distinct civic value. 

The superintendent of schools reports that in 1915-16 there were 
17,026 individual depositors, or 4 in every 11 pupils, with total de- 
posits of $292,070.45, as against 7,604 depositors, or 4 in every. 16 
pupils, with a total deposit of $68,187.37 at the end of the first year 
of operation (July 1, 1912). The average deposit per pupil has thus 
increased in the same time from $8.96 to $17.15. 

The children bring their savings to their teachers, from whom they 
are collected weekly by representatives of the bank which inaugu- 
rated the school savings plan in the city, and which arranged with 
the school board to handle the children's business. It will be noted 
that this differs from the practice in many cities, where the deposits 
are distributed among a number of banks, according to the choice of 
the children or their parents. 

Pupil participation in activities of the community outside of the 
school. — It was intended to study the affiliations of eighth-grade and 
high-school pupils with organizations outside of the schools, and the 
activities of such organizations so far as they seemed to have a civic- 
educational purpose or influence. Time was not found for this. 
Direct inquiry was made, however, of the eighth-grade pupils in a 
number of schools. In some classes not a single pupil acknowledged 
membership in any organization other than the church or Sunday 
school. In other schools the Y. M. C. A., the Boy Scouts, various 
athletic clubs, and the like, had representatives among the boys ; the 
Camp Fire Girls, sewing clubs, social, musical, and religious organi- 
zations among the girls. Such organizations represent interests which 
also lie at the foundation of social and civic life in general — physical, 
intellectual, esthetic, economic, etc. The extent and kind of such 
affiliations on the part of the children vary from school to school, and 
from district to district. What relation they bear to the home life 
of the children, and how far they may be taken as an index to the 
richness or poverty of their sodal experiences and opportunities are 
questions worthy of study. They should, at all events, be taken into 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 345 

account by the school as a factor in the civic education of the child. 
As far as could be discovered there is very little coordination of 
these outside interests with the work of the school. 

In response to the question " In what civic activities outside of the 
school have your pupils participated in an organized way during the 
last year? " 57 out of 68 principals replied " None "; 4 specified festi- 
vals and carnivals, such as the May Festival; 3 mentioned member- 
ship in juvenile organizations such as the Boy Scouts; several referred 
to athletic contests; 1 mentioned cooperation with an improvement 
club, and 1 membership in the Mount Tamalpais Conservation Club. 
One principal stated that participation by pupils in outside civic 
activities was "not permitted" — by whom was not indicated. 

Perhaps the question was not wholly understood. No reference is 
made in the written responses to participation in such movements as 
" fire-prevention " or " clean-up " campaigns, though such movements 
had been mentioned in personal interview in one or two cases. It 
seems, however, that organized cooperation by school children in 
movements of general public concern is not common, though under 
proper supervision it could be made a vital feature in their civic 
education. 

As individuals or as members of organizations children do partici- 
pate in many community activities, which should afford a basis for 
civic instruction. The boy who sells papers on the street, for ex- 
ample, chould be made to see how his work " fits in " with the activi- 
ties of other boys and girls, and with the general economic and social 
life of the community. 

The children are now citizens of the larger communities of city, State, and 
Nation, and in going to school they are doing the very thing that the com- 
munity expects of them. Regularity and diligence in school work are a public 
service. School buildings and equipment are public property. Teachers, princi- 
pals, superintendents, and school board are a part of the governing machinery 
of the city and State. The children's cooperation with these representatives of 
the community is good citizenship of the most practical kind. 

The maintaining of order on the playground naturally extends to the main- 
taining of order on the streets in the vicinity of the school. It is common for 
committees of older boys to look after the safety of younger children in cross- 
ing streets near the school. Solicitude for the cleanliness and beauty of school 
grounds develops equal solicitude for the cleanliness and beauty of adjoining 
streets, alleys, lawns, and vacant lots. School gardening quickly stimulates 
home gardening, and whole neighborhoods have been transformed through the 
influence of the schools. The sodding of the barren dooryard of an adjoining 
tenement by a group of colored schoolboys led, in one case, to imitative activity 
on the part of neighboring residents. Neighboring fences were straightened 
up, walks repaired, back yards cleaned. 1 

1 U. S. Bu. of Educ, Bui., 1915, No. 17, p. 32. Further discussion and illustration of 
pupil participation in community activities are given in the same connection. See also 
Bui., 1915, No. 23, pp. 17, 18. 



346 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Organized participation by children in matters of large public- 
concern is feasible and wholesome, provided it is wisely directed. 
Such instances are found in " safety-first " movements, fire-preven- 
tion and health campaigns, historical and civic pageants. The' 
school should see to it that' the pupils are conscious of the social and 
civic significance of what they are doing. But more important than 
these more or less spectacular movements, which are often temporary 
in their effect, is the continuous effort to relate the pupils' daily ac- 
tivities, in the home, in the school, or on the street, to the stream of 
community life. This is the most vital feature of community civics. 

The San. Francisco elementary schools have not yet reached the 
point where the pupiPs own life as a member of the community is 
made to afford the primary materials for his civic education. 

B. — High Schools. 

The American public high school has a peculiar responsibility for 
the training of youth for efficient membership in American demo- 
cratic society. This includes technical efficiency, the foundation for 
which, at least, should be provided for in the secondary course of 
study. It also includes social efficiency, to which the course of study 
should clearly contribute, but which can be developed to the fullest 
extent only by practice. ' The high school is, in fact, a miniature 
American community. In the interest of the civic training of its 
young citizens, it should be conducted in as full accord with the 
principles of political and social democracy as is consistent with the 
proper performance of its other (academic and technical) functions. 
This means the cultivation by practice of responsibility, cooperation, 
initiative, leadership and a proper conception of leadership, loyalty 
to community ideals and aims, and other essential qualifications for 
efficient membership in a political and social democracy. 

The routine life of the school affords constant opportunity for such 
training, but of peculiar importance are the varied extra-curricular 
activities characteristic of the life of large high schools : Athletics, 
musical and literary organizations, the publication of school papers, 
debating clubs, scientific clubs, social organizations, and enter- 
tainments. Whatever intrinsic educational value these activities 
possess, their sanction in the high school is to be found largely in 
the opportunity they afford for pupil participation in their manage- 
ment and in the relation of such group activities to the interests of 
the school as a whole. 

It is said that there has been more or less opposition to pupil 
organizations and activities in the San Francisco high schools on the 
part of the board of education. The extent and ground of such op- 
position was not learned, but there is at present in most of the high 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 347 

schools of the city a wide range of extra-curricular activity and 
organization. Under suitable regulation as to time consumed by 
them, character of their work, and the relation of their work to that 
of the school as a whole, such activities unquestionably afford a dis- 
tinct civic-educational opportunity. 

In three of the high schools, and perhaps in all, there are organiza- 
tions of the entire student body with more or less responsibility for 
the conduct of all extra-curricular school activities. One of the most 
fully developed of these is in the Polytechnic High School, the prin- 
cipal of which is a firm believer in student activities as a direct 
means of social and civic education. Even the faculty committees 
of this school, including the committee on discipline, have student 
members appointed by the principal with the advice of students. 
The purpose is to get the students' point of view in regard to all 
policies and measures. Practically all of the activities and institu- 
tions of the school, including the well-ordered cafeteria, are managed 
largely by this student organization, at the head of which is a council 
composed of the officers of the organization and the heads of the 
several student activities. The principal holds himself responsible 
for the academic standing, morals, and conduct of those who are per- 
mitted to hold office, but he depends for his judgment largely upon 
the Honor League, which is composed of pupils of known high 
standing. Even some cases of discipline are turned over to the 
student organization for treatment. 

The Lowell High School has a similar organization, which man- 
ages all school activities, including the school journal, the cafeteria, 
and the book exchange. The governing board consists of the prin- 
cipal, three faculty representatives appointed by the principal, the 
executive officers who are elected by the student organization, class 
representatives chosen by their respective classes, and representatives 
of school interests, such as athletics, the school orchestra, etc. The 
treasurer must be one of the faculty members, as also the general 
director of the cafeteria, who is responsible for the funds of the 
latter. But there are several assistant treasurers who are students 
and who collect all money, with full responsibility to the treasurer 
and to the director of the cafeteria. This organization has nothing 
to do with the administration of the academic work of the school, nor 
with discipline in the ordinary sense. It may follow up cases of 
infraction of school regulations, but with no authority to act. 

The activities of the High School of Commerce are apparently 
somewhat more restricted than in the two schools just mentioned. 
There is a student organization, but it is said to be " nominal." It 
has a "sort" of charge of athletics, dancing, etc., but under the 
" direction and control " of a teacher. Pupils are not permitted to 



348 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

handle funds. The school recently had a " self-government day " as 
an experiment, which was said to be successful and of great interest 
to the pupils. The principal says, however, that at present there 
are no " facilities " for self-government in the school. 

No detailed information regarding pupil participation in the 
management of school activities in the other two high schools was 
obtained. 

Participation in outside activities. — There is very little organized 
participation by high-school pupils in community activities and 
civic movements outside of the school. The head of the department 
of drawing in the Polytechnic High School has been president of the 
local improvement association of the district in which the school is 
situated. By authorization of this organization he directed the 
boys of his department in surveys and plans for the improvement 
of a local park, and in the construction of equipment for it. It was 
reported that pupils of the same school, acting in conjunction with 
the local improvement association, attended one or more meetings 
of the board of supervisors in the interest of desired improvements 
for the school or its vicinity. But such activity is not common. 

Eeference was made on page 330 to the fact that there is very little 
direct contact by the pupils in the government classes with commun- 
ity activities as a basis for their study ; no participation in " social 
surveys," little direct study of health or other community conditions 
and activities. In some communities high-school pupils have as- 
sisted materially, and especially to their own benefit, in community 
surveys of various kinds. Pupils of science departments have as- 
sisted local health departments and other departments of government 
in such matters as water and milk analyses. It has been suggested 
from various sources that in the interest of civic education every 
young man should at some time in the course of his education be re- 
quired to " do service " of some sort for his community in direct co- 
operation with governmental departments — health, police, park, etc. 
Whether this is feasible or not in a regularly organized way, there 
is opportunity for voluntary cooperation between the schools and 
other departments of government that could be made mutually bene- 
ficial, provided, of course, that there were competent supervision and 
sympathetic cooperation on the part of the governmental depart- 
ments concerned. There seems to have been no development in this 
direction in San Francisco. 

EVENING SCHOOLS. 

A detailed report on the evening schools of San Francisco, with 
especial emphasis upon their work for adult foreigners, is given in 
Chapter XV. They are briefly considered here only in relation to 
their direct efforts to train for citizenship. 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 349 

The enrollment in these schools consists chiefly of three groups: 
(1) Boys and girls who did not complete the elementary course in 
the day schools and are trying to find a substitute for it in the eve- 
ning schools while working during the day; (2) young men and 
women who are seeking to extend their education beyond the ele- 
mentary stage, or who are taking technical or commercial instruc- 
tion; and (3) adults, chiefly foreigners, of whom many are just 
learning to speak English. The last group will be dealt with sep- 
arately in the succeeding section. 

The evening elementary schools contain graded and ungraded 
classes, the former including Grades IV- VIII. The presumption is 
that most of the pupils in the evening school have completed at least 
the third grade of the day school, which they must attend until 14 
years of age. A course in civics is offered in the eighth grade as in 
the day schools, with the same text as a basis. According to the last 
printed course of study (1911) instruction is given in this subject 
twice a week in thirty -minute periods, alternating on the other three 
evenings with geography in the first half-year and with sanitation in 
the second half; geography and United States history are given in 
Grades V-VII, the geography two periods a week and the history 
three periods. There is some variation in the time actually allotted 
to these subjects, civics sometimes being taught only once a week. 

The Humboldt evening high school, with an enrollment of about 
1^400, is organized in academic, commercial, and technical depart- 
ments. A course in civics is offered for one year in the academic 
department, but there is none in the commercial and technical 
departments, although pupils in these departments may elect sub- 
jects in the academic department. The head of the commercial 
department thinks that civics should be taught in his department, 
and one of the teachers in the technical department thought that 
civics instruction could be given in close relation with some of the 
technical courses. A year of history is offered in this high school. 
A great deal of attention is given to debating, in which opportunity 
is afforded for the discussion of questions of civic import. Every 
pupil in the academic department is a member of a debating club, 
and pupils from the other departments may enter at their option. 
Interscholastic debates are participated in. 

The civics instruction observed in the evening elementary schools 
is, in general, perfunctory and bookish and fails to reach the pupils. 
There is always the exception. One teacher, for example, was 
enthusiastic in regard to her civics class, the members of which, she 
said, take great interest in " work based on the real experiences of 
their lives." No recitation by this class was actually observed, but 
judging from the enthusiasm of the teacher, her methods in other 



350 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO, 

work, and her own account of her methods in civics, it is probable 
that rather effective work is being done here. 

Another class was visited which was composed entirely of boys 
of an average age, probably, of 17 or 18. The teacher is a young man 
of initiative and resourcefulness. He takes up with the boys vital 
problems that have a direct relation to their lives. Sometimes these 
are suggested by the textbook^ which is read and discussed, some- 
times from other sources. They include such problems as hygiene 
for the worker and economic problems of various kinds. A textbook 
in economics is referred to, and bulletins issued by the State board 
of health, the State development board, and other governmental 
departments are freely used. There was here a distinct effort, and 
apparently a measurably successful effort, to adapt the work to the 
conditions, interests, and needs of the boys in the class. 

The pupils in the evening schools are all more than 14 years of 
age, studying subjects pursued by very much younger pupils in the 
day schools. Many left day school without having completed more 
than the first few grades. In a single class ages may range from 
14 to 21 or more. They have usually done a day's work before 
coming to school. They have comparatively little time for study, 
are in school but a few hours per week, and are often very irregulai 
in attendance. There is not the variety of occupation nor the oppor- 
tunity for recreation and social enjoyment that characterize the daj 
school. Many of them are earning their own living and contributing 
to the support of their families. Life has become for them a serious 
business. 

These facts should suggest the probable futility of merely trans- 
planting the day-school curriculum and methods into the evening 
school. Instruction in the evening schools, while enriching the lives 
of the pupils and developing their capacity to enjoy life, must of 
necessity have a practical relation to present life conditions. The 
reading, the mathematics, the language work, as well as the geog- 
raphy, the history, the hygiene, and the civics, should be organized 
in close relation to the experience, interests, and present needs of 
the pupils. 

The aims of. civics instruction should be the same in evening 
schools as in day schools, as set forth in the printed course of study 
and quoted above (p. 303). The general outline for the eighth grade 
may serve as a sort of sailing chart, but it can hardly be more. The 
textbook in use may serve a useful purpose, but under the condi- 
tions of evening-school work it should by all means not be the 
controlling purpose to " complete the book." It would be much 
more effective to select a very few topics of direct relation to the 
pupil's interest and conditions and to organize his civics instruction 
around them. Public health 'from the standpoint of the worker, 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 351 

public safety from the starting point of accident prevention, the 
civic relations of business life are suggestive topics. 

It is necessary in evening-school instruction in civics and other 
social studies to concentrate upon actual points of contact with the 
lives of these handicapped boys and girls. What has been said 
relates primarily to the elementary classes; but it is equally appli- 
cable to the evening high-school work, except that in the latter the 
pupils have broader interests, greater maturity, and perhaps a more 
definite purpose in life, which must be taken into account in the 
selection of topics and the methods of treating them. 

Because of the relative maturity of evening-school pupils, even 
in the lower grades, and also because many of them fail to continue 
in school more than a year or two, organized civics instruction of 
the kind here proposed might well be introduced as early as the fifth 
grade. It should be given in close relation with other studies and 
need not be great in amount. Time could readity be found for it 
by eliminating some of the formal stereotyped work in various 
subjects, especially in geography and history. 

The selection of suitable topics and materials must be chiefly the 
responsibility of the teacher. This and the development of methods 
by which evening school pupils may actually be reached requires 
exceptional skill on the part of the teacher. Effective training for 
citizenship in these schools will be conditioned on the assignment 
of teachers to this work on the sole basis of peculiar fitness to meet 
the unique conditions existing. 

THE CIVIC EDUCATION OF THE FOREIGNER. 

The facts regarding San Francisco's large and varied foreign 
population, and some of the educational problems presented by it, 
are set forth in Chapter XV of this report. The present section is 
concerned solely with the direct training of the foreigner for Ameri- 
can citizenship. 

An urgent problem is presented by the adult immigrant who, ig- 
norant of our language and unfamiliar with our ideals, institutions, 
and habits, takes his place at once as a factor in our social and eco- 
nomic life. The chief public instrumentality available with which 
to meet the situation is the public educational system, and its most 
obvious means (so far as the adult immigrant is concerned) are the 
evening school and the social center. San Francisco has classes for 
foreigners in some of its evening schools, but they reach a mere 
handful of those who should be enrolled. 

The first step toward the Americanization of the immigrant is the 
acquisition of the English language. This work of the evening 



352 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

schools is discussed at length in Chapter XY of this report. While 
this is not, in itself, civic education, it is a necessary foundation 
for it. 

The Americanization of the immigrant is not completed, however, 
until he has also acquired an understanding of local and national 
community life in America — social, economic, and political — and has 
attained to efficient participation in it as a citizen. This constitutes 
his civic education. To what extent do the San Francisco evening 
schools provide systematically for this aspect of Americanization? 
To what extent may they so provide ? 

Only 7 of the 16 evening schools of the city have classes for 
adult foreigners, with a total enrollment (August, 1916) of about 
600, and an average attendance of from one-third to one-half of this 
number. Attendance is very irregular, and the time during which the 
adult foreigner remains in evening school is usually very short. Of 
those attending, the majority have so slight a command of the Eng- 
lish language that instruction in a content subject, such as history 
or civics, is necessarily slow and laborious, and often practically im- 
possible, especially where the subject deals with institutions and 
concepts radically different from those within the past experience 
of the student. That the problem is hardly being touched at all is 
made vividly apparent by noting that in 1910 of the 416,912 people 
in San Francisco, 130,874 were foreign-born whites (31.4 per cent), 
and that while the foreign-born population increased between 1900 
and 1910 from 104,254 to 130,874, the number of whites unable to 
speak English increased in the same time from 4,251 to 9,537, or 
more than doubled. (See Chapter XY.) 

Some instruction in civics and United States history is given to 
those who are just learning to read English by giving as reading 
lessons simple stories from history and matter from elementary 
civics texts. The material used in such cases is necessarily very ele- 
mentary from a language standpoint, and in substance is of about 
the same kind as that given to children of 12 or 14 years, or younger, 
in the day schools. In spite of their unfamiliarity with the English 
language, these foreigners are by no means immature of mind. Some 
of them have been well educated in the schools and universities of 
their own countries. The civics instruction given to this group by 
present methods is hardly calculated to inspire them with the spirit 
of American life and institutions, or even to give them any great 
amount of usable information. 

For more advanced students (from the point of view of English) 
regular citizenship instruction is given, but with varying emphasis 
in the different schools. Most of this work is very formal and. me- 
chanical, and less well organized than in the day schools. It is true 
that in these classes individuals may be found who show a good deal 






CIVIO EDUCATION. 353 

of interest and even enthusiasm, but it is the interest and enthusiasm 
of individuals eager to learn and grasping with avidity at whatever 
is offered them. This only serves to accentuate the need for some- 
thing that will more fully satisfy their hunger. 

In one or two of the evening schools exceptionally conscientious 
work for the foreign citizenship classes was found, though greatly 
handicapped by conditions for the most part beyond the control of 
the teacher. The most noteworthy instance was perhaps that of 
the Lincoln evening school, to which more extended reference is 
made in Chapter XV. As there stated, the principal and teacher 
of this school have sent out, at their own expense, invitations 
to attend the citizenship classes. The teacher has prepared, also 
at her own expense, a special text designed to meet more nearly 
the needs of her classes as she knows them. When any of her stu- 
dents are ready to take the naturalization examination, this teacher 
also makes it a point to accompany them to the court. Doubtless 
much good work is being done here in spite of inadequate facilities 
and other adverse conditions. 

If the Americanization problem of San Francisco is to be met at 
all adequately, provision must be made at least in the following di- 
rections : 

1. For more adequate evening-school facilities for adult foreign 
ers, including more schools distributed in favorable localities; more 
efficient organization and administration, both as to general super- 
vision and as to specific handling of classes which are composed of 
adult foreigners; and an adequate number of competent teachers to 
meet the new demands. 

2. For more general and regular attendance of adult foreigners 
who have not received their naturalization papers, until they shall 
have acquired facility with the English language and shall have 
completed an approved course of instruction in citizenship. 

3. For the adoption of the most approved methods of giving prac 
tical facility in the use of English in the shortest time possible. 

4. For a systematic citizenship course devised especially to meet 
the needs of the adult foreigner in the land of his adoption and to 
safeguard the interests of the community in which he has made his 
home. 

It is. not within the province of this section of the survey report 
to deal with the general administration of the evening school, nor 
with the methods of instruction in English. As for more general 
and regular attendance, it is believed that much can be accomplished 
in this direction if the school is made attractive, first by adopting 
methods appropriate to grown men and women, instead of those 
93815—17—23 



354 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

which have been borrowed from elementary day schools (see Chapter 
XV) ; but more particularly by offering instruction that will really 
satisfy the wants of the student. This has especial application to 
the course in citizenship. 

The citizenship course for adult foreigners should be organized 
directly around the problems which they themselves encounter from 
the time of their arrival in this country and which are, therefore, of 
direct practical interest to them. This means the application or 
adaptation of the community civics idea to the requirements of 
adults who have attained mental maturity, but who find themselves 
in a community whose actual conditions and relations are entirely 
strange to them and at first, in many cases, incomprehensible. Some 
of the formal information contained in the usual textbooks and out- 
lines of civics doubtless has, in its proper place, a value for the for- 
eigner ; much of it is wholly unnecessary in the earlier stages of his 
civic education. But any of it may be acquired more effectively if 
it is made incidental to and given the perspective of a study and 
discussion of the elemental experiences of the immigrant in his efforts 
to establish himself as an active member of American society. 

Perhaps the best available exemplification of the kind of citizen- 
ship instruction appropriate to the requirements of adult foreigners 
is that suggested by a tentative syllabus issued by the Division of 
Immigrant Education of the United States Bureau of Education, 
and by the more elaborate syllabus for a citizenship course for immi- 
grants published by the New York State Department of Education 
(Albany). The city of Rochester, N. Y., is apparently doing some 
effective work along the general lines of these syllabi, and is worthy 
of special mention because of the organized training of teachers for 
foreign classes there developed. 

It is believed that evening-school work might be made more attrac- 
tive to the adult foreigner, and more effective on the citizenship side, 
if it were closely identified with the community center. Citizenship 
classes would themselves benefit by a little more of the informality 
characteristic of the " club " or the " forum." Moreover, the varied 
activities and interests of a well-developed community center are 
highly educational on the civic side, and may in many cases be 
closely correlated with definite citizenship instruction. Recrea- 
tional facilities, reading room, stereopticon and moving-picture 
equipment, open discussions and debates, lend themselves to the gen- 
eral purposes of the community center and to the specific purposes 
of citizenship instruction. (See section on Community Centers, 
pp. 359, 3G0.) 

However successful the attempt to bring adult foreigners into 
evening classes and to improve methods of instructing them, there 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 355 

are serious limitations of this influence by the shortness of time dur- 
ing which they attend school, the fixed habits of the adult, the diffi- 
culties of language, etc. The Americanization and assimilation of 
the foreign population must be accomplished chiefly through the 
younger generation. Statistics for 1908 show that 58 per cent of the 
children in the San Francisco public schools were then of foreign 
parentage (see Chapter XV) . 

Even from the standpoint of the Americanization of the adult for- 
eigner, the children afford one of the most effective channels through 
which to work. If the civics work of the public schools is really 
vital, it will inevitably penetrate the home. This has been demon- 
strated in numerous cases, a single illustration of which is reported 
by a German father who said that the civics which his two boys were 
taking in the eighth grade furnished the subject of conversation at 
breakfast nearly every morning. If the work in the school is well 
planned and the questions well formulated, more or less discussion 
at home may be directly stimulated. 

An illustration of this is afforded by an incident in one of the 
classes visited in San Francisco. The topic under discussion chanced 
to be immigration. The recitation consisted of a recital by the pu- 
pils of general facts obtained from the textbook. The recitation was 
interrupted : 

Observer. How many of you were born in other countries? 

Two or three pupils indicated that they were. 

Observer. How many of you have parents who were born abroad? 

Fully half the class answered in the affirmative. 

Observer. Tell me from what countries your parents came. 

Several nationalities were given in response. 

Observer. Can any of you tell me why your parents came to this country? 
What their experiences were on landing? How they reached their final desti- 
nations? Etc. 

Little definite information was elicited by such questions as these. 

Observer. Do you think it would be interesting to find out from your parents 
the story of their coming to America, and what happened after they got here, 
and to tell it to the class? 

The children agreed that they would like to do this. 

If the suggestion here given were followed out by the teacher, it 
would afford an opening not only for a lesson on immigration based 
on realities close to the children's experience, but also for home dis- 
cussion. 

Moreover, the civic education of the immigrant depends largely 
upon the civic education of the American. In the first place, the 
Americanization of the immigrant can be successfully accomplished 
only if Americans themselves understand the problems involved and 
meet the immigrant fully half way. The problems of immigration 
and Americanization are problems about which American citizens 



356 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FBASTCISCO. 

and their children need instruction as well as the immigrant and 
his children. They should be included in any vital course in com- 
munity civics, especially in a city like San Francisco, whether in 
classes of native or foreign children, though the angle of approach 
may differ in the two cases. 

In the second place, the character of the citizenship of the immi- 
grant will be moulded more continuously and profoundly by his 
daily experience and contacts, by the conditions in which he lives 
and works, than by anything he can be taught in the schools. These 
experiences of the immigrant depend largely upon Americans them- 
selves; their attitude toward the immigrant and toward American 
conditions and ideals. Good citizenship on the part of immigrants 
is dependent upon good citizenship on the part of Americans. 

The foreign population of San Francisco thus affords another 
argument for organized and effective civic education throughout the 
school system for both native and foreign children. To be effective 
it must be universal ; but it must also be carefully adapted to group 
needs. The principles of good citizenship and the general subject 
matter of civics are the same for all groups; but the point of view 
and the experience of the foreign child may differ widely from those 
of the native; indeed, they may differ widely among different for- 
eign groups and in different sections of the city. This creates a 
necessity for different methods of approach, different illustrative 
materials and different applications. At the present time practi- 
cally no provision is made in the San Francisco schools for such 
group distinctions. 

COMMUNITY OR SOCIAL CENTERS. 

The school law of California provides that — 

There is hereby established a civic center at each and every public schoo) 
bouse within the State of California, where the citizens of the respective pub 
lie school districts within the said State of California may engage in super 
vised recreational activities, and where they may meet and discuss, from time 
to time, as they may desire, any and all subjects and questions which in their 
judgment, may appertain to the educational, political, economic, artistic, and 
moral interests of the citizens of the respective communities in which they may 
reside; Provided, That such use of said public schoolhouse and grounds for 
said meetings shall in no wise interfere with such use and occupancy of said 
public schoolhouse and grounds as is now, or hereafter may be, required for 
the purposes of said public schools of the State of California. 

Lighting, heating, janitor service and the services of a special supervising 
officer when needed * * * shall be provided for, out of the county or spe 
eial school funds of the respective school districts. * * * 

The management, direction, and control of said civic center shall be vested 
tn the board of trustees or board of education of the school district. * * * 
(School law of California. Art. VIII. sops. 1, 2. and 3.) 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 357 

Under the authority of this law five community centers 1 were in 
operation in the San Francisco schools in the year 1915-1G. The 
following statistics relating to them were furnished by the director 
in charge : 

Monroe ScJiool Center, operated five nights each week: Attendant 

Monday — Rug weaving _ _- ____ 15 

Tuesday — Dramatics for girls , ____ — —_. — _____ 20-25 

Wednesday — Singing for girls__ „ _, __ 20 

Thursday — 

Gymnasium for girls__ _ ___„ 25 

Italian and Spanish classes. ._ 3P* 

Friday- 
Girls' sewing ___________________„________=__=______„= 2(> 

Boys' gymnasium 50 

Public lecture once each month. 

John Stcett ScJiool Center: 

First Wednesday, each month — Neighborhood rally______________ 200-300 

Second Wednesday, each month — Public lecture 150-200 

Third Wednesday, each month — Parent-teacher club 200-250 

Fourth Wednesday, each month — Senior alumni association 100-150 

Monday each week — Junior alumni association ._ 40- 50 

Bryant School Center: 

Second Friday, each month— Public lecture _________ ,_ 100-125 

Third Friday, each month — Parent-teacher club ,_, 200-250 

Fourth Friday, each month — Neighborhood rally . 200-300 

Tuesday, each week — Dressmaking ________ 20- 30 

Wednesday, each week — Millinery _ ____, .__ 20- 80 

Yerba. Bucna ScJiool Center: 

First Friday, each month — Parent-teacher club 209-250 

Second Friday, each month — Public lecture ,__ 100-125 

Third Friday, each month — Alumni association 75-100 

Fourth Friday, each month — Neighborhood rally 200-300 

Four nights each week — Neighborhood boys' club__ 18- 25 

Spring Valley ScJiool Center: 

Thursday night, each week — Mothers* club 300-350 

Monday night, each week — Neighborhood boys' club_______ ._ 15- 30 

All expenses of these centers were paid last year by the board of 
education, except in the case of the Spring Valley School Center in 
which the board provided only for the expenses required by the 
law — light, heat, and janitor service. In each center the principal 
of the school served as the " special supervising officer." 

1 There is confusion in practice in the terms npplied to these centers. The term " civic 
center" is objectionable because it is also applied to the center about which public build- 
ings are grouped in many cities. The term "social center" is used generally in San 
Francisco. "Community center" and "neighborhood center" are also in use, the last 
named being used specifically in the proposed plan of operations formulated by the di- 
rector in charge. The term " community center " seems likely to he generally adopted, 
and will be used throughout this report. 



358 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



This year (191G-17) the board of education discontinued its policy 
of entire support of community centers on the ground of lack of 
funds. As a result of this and the uncertainty as to how they would 
be provided for, none of the centers had resumed its activity this fall 
(September; school opens the latter part of July). In one case the 
principal was trying to hold the organization together by continuing 
some of the center activities in quarters outside of the school, but 
there was a general feeling of anxiety lest the centers should fall to 
pieces entirely. 

The director in charge of community centers (who is officially 
director of physical training, athletics, social and lecture centers, 
and plaj^grounds) has proposed a plan for the " Establishment and 
operation of neighborhood centers in the public-school buildings,'' 
which is a compromise, so far as method of support is concerned, be- 
tween the plan in effect last jeav and that made mandatory by law. 
At the time of the inquiry the plan had not been adopted by the 
board of education. 1 Its essential features are as follows: 

The board of education will grant and promote, through its department of 
physical education, athletics, social, and lecture centers, the use of school 
buildings for evening neighborhood centers of the following character: 

A. Social centers — for the purpose of conducting neighborhood rallies, en- 
tertainments, clubs, etc., for any moral purpose except political or religious 
propaganda. 

B. Lecture centers — for the purpose of conducting lectures, discussions, or 
debates upon any subject free from political or religious propaganda. 

C. Music centers — for the purpose of promoting neighborhood choruses or 
other musical interests of the people. 

Note. — The term " social center " is here used to denote an inclusive neigh- 
borhood center. The social center may, therefore, include both lecture and 
music centers, as well as many other interests and activities. 

By " political or religious propaganda " is not meant broad and liberal 
treatment of the civic and ethical questions of the day. The bar is against 
partisan or factional politics and the promotion or criticism of or the giving of- 
fense to any religious faith or organization. 

When neighborhood centers are established the board of education will pro- 
vide the following for each center: One employee of the board of education 
to serve as leader, promoter, and manager of the center ; necessary janitorial 
service; light and heat; a certain amount of equipment, repairs, and supplies 
required for given activities; motion-picture service in social centers once 
each month; stereopticon and operator in lecture centers; piano in music 
centers. 

All other items of expense in the operation of a neighborhood center must 
be met by the patrons of the center. 

1 Since the above statement was written information has been received that the board 
of education has adopted in toto the plan proposed by the director as outlined above, 
Also, that the five centers had resumed operations with slight change in activities. Id 
addition, three new centers have been opened, but chiefly as music centers. Whereas last 
year all centers were managed by the principals of their respective schools, this year 
three centers are managed by teachers recommended by the principals. 






CIVIC EDUCATION. 359 

The last provision of this plan as quoted would apply especially 
to instructional work, the teachers and equipment for which would 
have to be paid lor by the group. Principals of schools having 
community centers fear that any plan which shifts the expense of 
such popular activities as instructional work to the neighborhood 
group will undo valuable work that has been begun and will delay, 
if it does not wholly prevent, the extension of centers into neigh- 
borhoods most greatly in need of them. The argument on the other 
side is, in effect, that the willingness of the people to pay for what 
they get may be taken as a measure of the need for the community 
center. This argument would hardly be taken seriously if applied 
to the ordinary activities of the public schools, and the community 
center at public expense should no more be considered a charity 
than is the public school itself. Both are a profitable social in- 
vestment. 

The movement for a wider use of the school plant was originally 
based largely on the argument that it was a return, or the means of 
return, to the old " town-meeting " idea — the assembling of neighbors 
to discuss matters of common concern. As the movement has grown, 
increasing emphasis has been placed upon recreational and instruc- 
tional features. These have proved of the utmost value; but it is 
unfortunate that the development of the "forum" idea has not 
everywhere kept pace with the development in other directions. It 
has hardly developed at all in San Francisco. In a circular recently 
issued by the United States Bureau of Education explanatory of a 
proposed bill for the establishment and operation of community cen- 
ters, the statement is made : 

The provision of community-center opportunities for the training and recrea- 
tion of young people is important * * * ; but the provision for consistent 
adult forum organization, although a matter of far less expense, is far more 
vital. If both can be secured — well. If only one — then the forum should be 
first. 

It is the opportunity afforded to the citizenship of a community 
for the discussion of community interests and the development of a 
practical sense of civic responsibility that gives to the community 
center its chief value and its sanction as a function of the public 
educational system of the community. All other activities should 
be subordinate to this central idea. It is the essential unifying agency 
for the miscellaneous social activities of groups that sometimes seek 
to use the schoolhousc for their own private ends, and assures their 
being kept in harmony with the public interest. Access to the school- 
house for social or other purposes should be through the doorway of 
the forum, which consists of the citizenship of the neighborhood 
united as individuals in the interest of an intelligent democracy. 
Where this idea has been consistently adhered to there seems to have 



360 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

been no trouble from the abuse of the schoolhouse and its privileges 
by self-seeking groups. 

What lias been said regarding, social activities in the center applies 
also to discussions that may take place there. The forum idea of the 
center has sometimes been wrecked on the rock of propagandism and 
partisanship. This has seldom, if ever, been because of the subject 
under discussion, but because the discussion was under the control of 
some particular group and for its own interests, instead of under 
the control of the forum in the interest of the community. The 
people of a democracy need training in self-control, open-mindedness, 
and fairness in the discussion of questions of common interest. 

Thirty-six of the school buildings of San Francisco are used as 
polling places in both primary and regular elections. This is one of 
the highest expressions of the community-center idea. The voting 
citizens of the neighborhood come as individuals to record their will 
on public questions. This use of the school building should not be 
permitted to interrupt the work of the school. It should rather be 
made a part of its educational work. 1 The logical development of 
the community-center idea will coordinate the instructional work of 
the school with the use of the building for other community purposes. 
If the citizen thus acts with his neighbors in the final expression of 
his judgment, why should he not have the opportunity to act with 
them in the same place in arriving at his judgment? 

In the section on the civic education of the foreigner (ante, p. 354) 
a close coordination between the evening school and the community 
center was suggested. In so far as the community center provides 
for evening classes, whether in English, rug weaving, or citizenship, 
it is an evening school. Instructional work is as legitimately a func- 
tion of the community center as any other activity. Moreover, the 
evening school is one of the best possible illustrations of the relation 
that should exist between the center and the community. It repre- 
sents the community organized for educational purposes. It is the 
community-center idea developed in a single direction — instructional. 
The evening school and the community center should be identified 
in their essential purpose and methods. 

This does not mean, however, that the varied* activities in the 
school building in the evening should be under the same immediate 
supervision. There arc administrative problems to be worked out. 
The director of physical training, athletics, social and lecture centers 
and playgrounds already has too much in his charge; supervision of 
evening schools should certainly not be added to his responsibilities. 
The interests of the evening schools demand special supervision by a 

1 The San Francisco schools do remain in session during the use of the buildings as 
polling places. The pupils are permitted, in some cases at least, to observe the election, 
and are given some instruction in regard to the methods employed, etc. 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 



361 



trained educator whose energies should not be too far dissipated by 
other interests. On the other hand, the direct civic and recreational 
relations and aspects of the work of the public schools are of such pe- 
culiar importance as to demand special supervision. While the details 
of this administrative organization can be worked out only by experi- 
ment and adjustment to particular conditions, the following para- 
graphs indicate the general direction. 

A deputy superintendent should be made responsible for all evening 
schools and for the civic and social educational work of the schools, 
including that of the day and evening schools and the community 
centers. Subordinate to him there should be at least two general 
directors or supervisors, one of whom should be the director of 
health and recreational activities, including those of the community 
centers; the other should be- the director of civic education, as such, 
in day and evening schools and in community centers (including 
general supervision of forum discussions, lecture centers, etc.). The 
director of civic education is referred to in other parts of this re- 
port. Figure G8 shows the general relations of this administrative 
machinery. 

Directly subordinate to the deputy superintendent in charge of 
the above activities would also be the principals of the several evening 
schools as such. 




OIR.OF PHYSICAL TRAINING, 

ATHLETICS, PLAYGROUNO&, 

COMMUNITY CENTER 

RECREATION 



CIVIC EDUCATION 
IN DAY SCHOOLS 



01 RECTOR OP 
CIVIC EDUCATION 



CIVIC EDUCATION 
EVENING SCHOOLS 



OVIC CENTER FORUMS 
LECTURE CENTERS 



Figure GS. — The proposed plan of organization places responsibility for civic education 
In day schools, civic education In evening schools, civic-center forums and lecture cen- 
ters under a director of civic education. This ofllccr, and the director of physical train- 
ing, athletics, playgrounds, and community center recreation, report directly to one of 
the deputy superintendents. 



362 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCTSCO. 

Other administrative problems are presented by the several local 
community centers and schools. It is highly desirable that the prin- 
cipal of the day school should be closely identified with the com- 
munity center of that school neighborhood, as is now the case. Just 
what shall be the relation of the principal to the center? If the 
evening school is identified with the community center as herein 
suggested, what shall' be the relation between its principal and the 
principal of the day school? Shall the two principalships be com- 
bined into one? 

The relation of the principal to the community center should be 
that of an executive secretary. It should not be his or her business 
to control the discussions of the adult forum, nor even to direct them 
in tlie sense that the children in the day school arc directed, but 
rather to serve the forum as its secretary while at the same time 
directing the varied activities centering around and determined 
apon by the forum. Such service is one of dignity and responsibility, 
requiring tact, organizing ability, and initiative. In order that such 
service may be given successfully, the principal should be relieved, 
as proposed in the case of teachers, of one-half of his day-school 
activities. 1 It is suggested, therefore, that in schools where there 
are community centers there shall be a principal and an assistant 
principal; that the principal shall be officially responsible for all 
activities conducted in her school, day or evening; and that there 
shall be a division of labor between the principal and assistant prin- 
cipal to the end that neither shall be in personal service at the school 
all day and in the evening also. 

With this arrangement it is probable that in some cases the prin- 
cipal and assistant principal of the day school could also serve as 
principal and assistant principal of the evening school in the same 
building, especially where the evening school is small and of simple 
organization, or where there is special supervision of particular 
activities, such as manual arts, etc. In large evening schools, how- 
ever, it may be necessary to continue the present plan of separate 
evening school principals. 

Without attempting to work out the details of this administrative 
plan, the general aims may be summarized as follows : 

1. The activities centering in a school, day and evening, both in- 
structional and otherwise, should be unified as completely as possible 
from the community point of view. 

2. The principal of the day school should be the recognized leader 
of the community activities centering in the school building. 

» In another chapter of this report (Ch. XV) a similar suggestion is made with reference 
to the employment of day-school teachers in the evening schools. Inasmuch as an evening 
session is reckoned as equivalent to one-half a day session, teachers in the evening schools 
•hould not teach more than one-half of a day session and should be paid a full day's 
■alary. 



CIVIC EDUCATION, 363 

3. The pay of the principal and assistant principal should be com- 
mensurate with this broader conception of their functions in the 
community, and should be sufficient to attract to this broader service 
the best ability obtainable. 

4. The additional burden placed upon the principal and assistant 
principal by this broadening of their functions should be compen- 
sated for by providing that each should be in personal service at the 
school building only morning and afternoon, morning and evening, 
or afternoon and evening. 

5. It must be recognized that ability to direct properly the instruc- 
tional activities of the evening school may not be coincident with 
ability to direct recreational activities. The evening school, as well 
as the day school, must be in charge of a trained educator. 

SOME EXTRA SCHOOL AGENCIES OF CIVIC EDUCATION. 

It was intended to include in the survey of civic education agencies 
other than the public schools that perform, or that might be expected 
to perform, positive service for the civic education of the people of 
San Francisco. The limitations of time prevented more than a be- 
ginning of this aspect of the survey, which by its very nature would 
be far-reaching and complex. There are two or three of these 
agencies, however, that are so closely related to the public schools 
that brief mention of them is made in conclusion. 

One of these is the public library. It will be a great opportunity 
lost if the means are not provided by which this institution, now 
about to move into new quarters, may make available for the use of 
school children and others materials pertaining to their own com- 
munity life. This should include the publication of bulletins, or 
leaflets, or a journal of some kind, covering in the course of time 
every phase of the life and growth of the city and State in such form 
and language as to be usable by immature minds, and organized with 
direct relation to the work of the schools. The best example of this 
sort of thing, probably, is to be found in Newark, N. J., where, under 
the initiative of the public librarian and with the cooperation of the 
school authorities, "Newark study" has become thoroughly estab- 
lished in the public schools. 

All published materials relating to the city and State — histories, 
departmental reports, publications of public and voluntary social 
agencies, etc. — should be made available by the library; but more 
important, there should be special attendants familiar not only with 
these materials but also with the course of study in the schools, who 
should have ready at hand the materials needed by classes as the 
work develops week by week throughout the term, and who should 
directly assist pupils and teachers in the use of this material. A 



364 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

room should be set apart for the use of pupils in their study of this 
material relating to the community; a room where exhibits of pic- 
tures and other illustrative materials should be on display. It might 
be known as " The San Francisco Room." The library may also be 
the proper agency for the collection of slides and films illustrative of 
community conditions and activities, which should be lent to schools, 
social centers, parents' associations, local improvement associations, 
as needed. The possibilities in this line arc almost unlimited. 

The working relations between the public library and the schools 
have been developed only to a very slight extent. The library does 
not seem to be in any real sense a part of the working equipment of 
the schools, and with few exceptions is not recognized as such by 
teachers. More branch libraries are needed; but more especially 
there is needed closer cooperation between library and teachers in 
regard to subjects taught at a given time in the schools and materials 
relating to those subjects available in the library. More definite and 
systematic provision should also be made for working collections of 
books to be lent to schools for short periods of time as needed. 

Individuals and private agencies have opportunity to cooperate 
with the schools and the library in the assembling of local materials 
for community study. A few years ago the City Club of Phila 
delphia published in bulletin form detailed reports of its Saturday 
discussions on the general subject "What is Philadelphia doing?" 
These were available for general use. The Commercial Club of In- 
dianapolis cooperated with the board of education in the publication 
of pamphlets relating to Indianapolis history and government which 
have found constant use in the public schools. The Association of 
Collegiate Alumna) of Wilmington, Del., appointed a committee of 
college-trained women to compile material relating to that city and 
State with specific reference to its use in the schools. Many other 
instances could be cited. There are many individuals and various 
organizations in San Francisco who by coordinated effort could give 
impetus to such extension of the usefulness of the public library. 
Efforts in this direction should be made in full knowledge of the 
aims and methods of the schools, and the schools should have a 
supervisor or other representative through whom such cooperation 
could be made effective. (See p. 3GG.) 

Parents' associations. — In San Francisco there arc about 35 
mothers' clubs and parent-teacher associations, most of which are 
federated in the Mothers' Congress. All of these organizations are 
eager to be of service to the schools with which they are associated. 
Some of them are highly successful; others are in doubt'as to what to 
do and how to do it. The attitude of principals and teachers toward 
them varies from that of one who "could not get along without" 



OIVIO EDUCATION. 365 

her parents' organization to that of another who has no such organi- 
zation and is "glad of it." This difference in attitude is doubt- 
less due in part to a difference in the methods and attitude of the 
associations toward the school, and in part to a difference in the 
principals' conception of the relations that should exist between the 
school and its patrons. 

Whatever else a parents' organization should bo or do, it should 
first of all be an association of parents or patrons seeking to be 
educated. Of course, the purpose of these organizations is to estab- 
lish working relations between home and school; but the first step 
toward cooperation on the part of the parent is an intimate under- 
standing of the aims, conditions, and methods of the schools. The 
charge of "meddlesomeness," which was sometimes heard in San 
Francisco with reference to parents' associations, can only be justi- 
fied when they undertake to "improve" conditions and methods 
which they do not thoroughly understand. 

On the other hand, the principal who finds her parents' associa- 
tion really meddlesome, really interfering in matters which they 
do not understand or with which they have no authority to deal, 
is not thereby furnished with a reason for not having an associa- 
tion; on the contrary, it is the best reason possible why she should 
have it. There are two reasons for the existence of the parents' 
organization: One is for what the parents can do for the school, 
and the other is for what the school can do for the parents. In 
most cases the parents can do very little for the school until the 
school has made its work and conditions so clear that they can not 
be misunderstood. 

The parents' association must maintain a broad civic outlook. 
* k Our school" is only a part of a great community school system. 
Moreover, the school system represents only one, albeit a very im- 
portant one, of numerous community activities, such as health pro- 
tection, street development, etc. If the local parents' organization 
is controlled in its action by local interests alone, without due regard 
for the larger community interests, group antagonisms are set up 
that delay general community progress. 

The budget of San Francisco for 191G-17 is about $15,000,000. 
When this budget was being made up petitions came in from par- 
ents' associations, local improvement associations, and the like, which 
if granted would have increased the total amount several times. 
Most of these requests were for strictly local improvements— a local 
playground, street improvements, etc. In some cases, it is said, the 
request for a local improvement would be accompanied by a pro 
test against a general increase in tax rate. This incident illustrates 
the necessity for organized community action baser! on organized 



366 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

civic intelligence. Instead of a multitude of isolated requests for 
local benefits, might there not be a carefully thought-out program 
/of plaj'ground development, for example, for the entire city and 
extending over a series of years, for the consummation of which 
local interests would be, not sacrificed, but merged in the commoD 
interest ? 

A clear-cut civic-educational duty and opportunity rest with the 
parents' association, the local improvement association, the com- 
munity center, and other agencies that interest themselves in com- 
munity progress. The public schools as such can do a vast amount to 
develop this large civic spirit ; but their efforts will be only partially 
successful unless supported and supplemented by other community 
agencies which have a clear civic-educational function. 

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 
GENEEAL ADMINISTRATION. 

1. .Responsibility for civic and social education through the vari- 
ous channels of the public schools should be centered in one deputy 
superintendent. 

2. Subordinate to the deputy superintendent there should be a 
director of health and recreational activities and a director of civic 
education. 

3. The director of civic education should be responsible for — 

Planning and organizing civics instruction in day and evening elementary 
schools. (See pp. 314, 350.) 

In cooperation with principals of schools, providing for continuity of pupils' 
civic education throughout the elementary school by correlation of the several 
subjects of the curriculum and of school activities. (See p. 315.) 

In cooperation with the principals of high schools and the heads of higb- 
school departments of social study, providing for continuity of civic education 
In the high school and between the high school and the elementary school. 
(Seep. 333.) 

Adaptation of civics instruction to group needs in both day and evening 
schools. (See pp. 323, 35G.) 

Training and supervision of teachers in service by personal study of teachers' 
problems, conferences, issuance of syllabi, outlines, illustrations of method, 
etc. Bulletins containing such materials issued at frequent intervals are ex- 
tremely helpful. 

Serving as a point of contact between teachers and the realities of the com- 
munity by keeping in touch with current happenings and with reports and 
publications of public and private community agencies, and by suggesting to 
teachers questions of current importance for general consideration in classes, 
helpful materials for class use, etc. (See p. 314.) 

Serving as the immediate agent for cooperation in civic matters between 
the schools and extra-school agencies. (See p. 3G4.) 

Planning and suggesting vital programs for discussion in community forums, 
and rendering such assistance as may be in making such discussions profitable ; 



CIVIC EDUCATION. 367 

but not dictating the lines which such discussions should follow. (See p. 
361.) 

In cooperation with principals and with the director and supervisors of play 
and recreation, seeking for closer coordination of these activities with the civic 
training of the pupils. (See p. 342.) 

General supervision of the organization and utilization of pupil participation 
in school affairs and in outside community activities and movements as a 
means of civic education. (See pp. 344, 345.) 

4. Pending such administrative reorganization as recommended, 
much improvement in civics instructions could be made by arrang- 
ing for frequent conferences of principals and teachers of civics and 
related subjects for the discussion of methods, and by utilizing the 
latent leadership of teachers who have been especially successful. 
(See p. 314.) 

ADMINISTRATION OF INSTRUCTION IN SOCIAL STUDIES IN JUNIOR AND SENIOR CYCLER 

It is recommended : 

5. That the " Departments of History " in the high schools be 
renamed " Departments of Social Study." This will tend toward a 
better perspective and greater unity. 

G. That the heads of the departments of social study, if they are 
not given direct responsibility for the organization and supervision 
of the seventh and eighth year social studies, at least keep within 
their purview these years in their relation to the work of the four 
years of the high school, and that they cooperate with the director 
of civic education in giving unity and continuity to the work of the 
six years. 

7. That in arranging the schedules of teachers of civics and other 
social studies, ample time be allowed for teachers' preparation. The 
teaching of these subjects is unlike the teaching of arithmetic, for 
example, in that an event that occurs to-day may entirely change 
the plan of lesson for to-morrow. New illustrations, new lines of 
approach, new applications are constantly being suggested and should 
be constantly sought for. Successful teaching of citizenship through 
the social studies requires peculiar alertness, adaptability, and close 
touch with the life of the community and with the experience and 
interest of the pupil. 

REORGANIZATION OF THE COURSE OF SOCIAL STUDIES. 

8. Th$ course of social studies in both elementary and high schools 
and in the evening schools should be reorganized in the spirit and 
general direction of the suggestions made on preceding pages of 
this report. For this purpose it is recommended that the superin- 
tendent of schools appoint a committee which should include the 



368 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FKANCISCO. 

deputy superintendent in charge of civic and social education and 
evening schools (see p. 36G) : the director of civic education (see p. 
3GG) ; the heads of the high- school departments of social study; at 
least one intermediate-school principal; one or more principals of 
elementary schools; representatives of the teachers of social studies 
in both elementary and high schools. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND LIBRARY FACILITIES. 

9. The difficulties now experienced by the high schools in securing 
a sufficient number and variety of texts and supplementary texts 
should be removed. 

10. An adequate fund should be provided for the building up of 
the high-school libraries of reference materials relating to the fields 
of social study. 

11. Means should be found for making the public library more 
directly useful to both liigh and elementary schools as a recognized 
part of their working equipment. (See p. 3G3.) 

EVENING SCHOOLS. 

12. The courses in civics and other social studies in the evening 
schools should be more closely adapted to the peculiar needs and 
conditions of the pupils in these schools, as suggested on page 350 
of this report. Further suggestion for the adaptation of work 
lo the needs of evening school pupils may be derived from the state- 
ment regarding the ninth-year work of the high schools (see p. 337) 

CIVIC EDUCATION OF FOREIGNERS. 

13. Provision should be made for more adequate and more appro 
priate evening school facilities for adult foreigners (see p. 353). 

14. Steps should be taken to secure more general and more regular 
attendance in evening classes of adult foreigners who have not re- 
ceived their naturalization papers, until they shall have acquired 
facility with the English language, and completed an approved 
course of instruction in citizenship. To this end the board of educa- 
tion should seek the cooperation of employers of foreign labor and 
of organizations interested in, or whose membership consists of. 
immigrants. 

15. A course of citizenship instruction should be devised that is 
adapted to the capacities of adult foreigners, and designed to meet 
their needs as they pass through the experiences of adjusting them- 
selves to the conditions of life in America. It should be an adapta 
rion of the community civics idea. It should consist less of formal 



cmo EDUCATION. 369 

and technical information about government, and should place more 
emphasis upon an interpretation of the community life in which the 
immigrant is beginning to participate. (See p. 354.) 

1G. In day elementary schools where there arc considerable num- 
bers of foreign children especial emphasis should be placed upon 
instruction in community civics. The methods of approach, the 
illustrative materials, and the applications of the subject should be 
carefully adapted to the needs of the group ; and the topics assigned 
for study and the methods by which they are studied should be such 
as to lead the pupils to discuss them at home. (See p. 35G.) 

17. The community center is one of the most effective agencies for 
the Americanization of the foreigner, not only through the evening 
school work, but also through the forum discussion and the social 
contacts made possible. Community centers should be developed 
as rapidly as possible in schools ministering largely to foreign popu- 
lations. 

COMMUNITY CENTEES. 

18. The suggestions for organization and administration of com- 
munity centers made on pages 3G1-363 of this report are recommended 
for adoption. 

19. Community-center forums should be maintained by the board 
of education from the public funds. It should be permissible, how- 
ever, for a community center to establish, of its own free will and at 
its own expense, any worthy activity for which public funds are not 
adequate. 

PUPIL ACTIVITIEP 

20. The pupils of elementary schools should be given a larger 
share of responsibility for the conduct of the school life as a means 
of citizenship training. The degree of responsibility assumed by 
the pupil should be increased with his proved capacity to exercise it. 

21. Pupil participation in the management and direction of school 
activities, already developed to a considerable extent in some of the 
high schools, should be perfected and extended to all high schools. 
It should be made an important factor in the civic training of the 
youth. 

22. Pupil participation in community movements should be en- 
couraged as a means of civic education, but always under the most 
careful supervision, and with due respect to the pupils' intelligent 
appreciation of what they are doing. 

23. Gardening and pla3 r ground activities have value for civic edu- 
cation and should be made regular school activities for this as well 

93S15— 17 24 



370 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

as for other reasons. The directors of gardening, of health, of recrea- 
tional activities, and of civic education should cooperate closely. 

24. The public playgrounds should be administered by the board 
of education rather than by a separate playground commission (see 
p. 342). This, however, is contingent upon the reorganization of the 
board of education as recommended in another chapter of this re- 
port, and implies no criticism of the present playground commission 



Chapter X. 
MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



L. GENERAL. PRINCIPLES AND AIMS. 

The values of a subject which aims at the attainment of no obvious 
material end are likely to be somewhat vague. A discussion of the 
theories of value sometimes maintained in relation to music may 
therefore be of advantage here. 

The idea commonly entertained of the origin, and therefore of the 
function, of music is that it arose from " the primal cry." This is 
the belief of Herbert Spencer, of Richard Wagner, and of many 
others of lesser note. It is an assumption so plausible and explains so 
readily those forms of musical expression that are intuitively under- 
stood by the layman that it has become a popular doctrine. As pre- 
sented by Wagner, in his "Music and Drama," it maintains that 
precedent to articulate speech were sounds or cries that arose intui- 
tively from the mood or feeling of the utterer and were intuitively 
comprehended by the feeling of the hearer. The cries of birds and 
animals and the crooning, babbling, and crying of infants are primi- 
tive examples. But language later came to endeavor to convey to the 
intellect of the hearer knowledge of the object that excited the feel- 
ing. In this endeavor it added consonants to the inarticulate sounds 
(which were vowels only) by which unconscious subjective feeling 
had been expressed. This development continued until language be- 
came highly intellectual and abstract and addressed the intellect of 
the hearer instead of being intuitively comprehended through his 
feeling. 

Music, by prolongation of the vowels, which are the colorful and 
emotional element in language, must be added to language if the 
primitive vigor and directness of emotional appeal which it once 
possessed are to be restored to it. In short, language started with 
tone, and to tone it must return if it again is to become a voice for 
the expression of what Wagner calls the "purely human"; namely, 
those deep and powerful states of feeling which are the true essence 
of our personality, and with which only all forms of artistic expres- 
sion are concerned. *" 

871 



372 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

A divergent view is stated in an unpublished essay by the late 
W. S. B. Matthews, entitled, " Of Beauty, Strength, and Satisfac- 
tion in Music." In Mr. Matthews's belief, music arose from the pleas- 
ure of the ear in tone, as purified, crystallized sound. The twang of a 
bowstring, the sound of the wind in the reeds, the song of a bird are 
the first facts in such a theory of genesis. But tones in succession 
must be congruous, each related to those that have gone before, to 
give the impression of an agreeable design, if they convey intelligible 
meaning to the hearer. Since we have memory, power to compare, 
to relate part to part, to coordinate, tonal successions grew naturally 
to have beautiful melodic undulation, agreeable rhythmic design, and 
orderly and interesting harmonic progressions. Over all was, fur- 
ther, an unconscious revelation of subjective mood, an elevation and 
sensitiveness of feeling, a poetic quality of thought which addressed 
our feelings subtly or profoundly as the case might be. Music has 
therefore three appeals: One to the ear (a sense appeal), as beauty 
of tone ; one to the mind, as beauty of design, arising out of poetic 
thought; and one to the soul or feeling, as revelation of a mood or 
state of feeling. 

It is evident that th« first of these two theories directs the thought 
primarily to vocal music, to song; and the second to instrumental 
music. The first causes us to think of music as an expression; the 
second to think of it from the standpoint of impression. The one 
would turn to the voice as its first interest in a process of musical 
education ; the other would turn to the ear. One seems to regard the 
individual as strongly active at the moment of musical experience; 
the other to regard him as sensitively receptive. The one implies 
stimulation of emotional life and full abandonment to its expression ; 
the other in a word, appreciation of music. Expression (and there- 
fore intensification) of feeling, or, on the other hand, satisfaction in 
idealistic design wrought in tones — these in a general way are the 
contrasted implications of the two theorie's. 

It is clear that both theories have place, and that music has a dual 
nature. The two forms have grown up side by side, and each can 
claim a history and display a characteristic line of development 
Always, however, they arc found intertwined, inextricably mingled; 
and without doubt the full orb of music requires the inclusion of both 
types of musical expression. 

It is assumed that the purpose of this report is that appreciation is 
the general aim in a system of public instruction in music. In a 
conservatory of music, where a select body of students is gathered 
whose aims are mainly vocational, appreciation may be taken for 
granted, and practical ability and expression of the individual may 
be emphasized. But when all the children of all the people are in- 
structed in music at public expense, and the vocational aim is an in- 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 373 

frequent and incidental one, it must be because the people generally 
wish their children to come into the sympathy with the beauty in 
music that is handed down to us in the imperishable writings of 
the world's great musical souls. They would have them vibrate 
sensitively to the dignity and manly strength of a Bach, the celestial 
beauty of a Mozart, the nobility and prophetic depth of a Beethoven, 
the world-shaking passion of a Wagner. 

In this the people are right. None but a sordid and unsatisfying 
civilization, that turns to ashes in the mouths of the successive gen- 
erations that press forward, can be founded upon a system that aims 
at material accomplishment. Elevation of feeling, aspiration toward 
a remote but ever beckoning ideal, a striving of the soul toward 
beauty, nobility and sympathetic vision— these are qualities that 
must be possessed by a free and progressive people quite as much as 
handiness in material production. 

By appreciation is meant not mere ability to name a composer or 
a piece of music that is heard, but a sympathy and intelligent under- 
standing that waits, hushed and uplifted, to receive the message that 
speaks in the tones. To be able to recognize composers, compositions, 
and performers is a social satisfaction, but is not appreciation. It 
does, indeed, betray a wistful desire to appreciate and to that extent, 
at least, is good; but until the strength, nobility, and beauty of 
thought and feeling that were in the soul of the composer have 
passed over into the soul of the hearer there to remain as a subtle 
power of his own, modifying his nature, there is not appreciation. 

n. METHODS AND PRACTICES IN GENERAL. 

/ 

What methods and practices in public-school music will lead 
most surely to the attainment of the ends outlined in the foregoing 
paragraphs ? 

Two outstanding facts are to be immediately reckoned with. The 
one is that the pupils at the beginning of their public-school life have 
qo path of approach to practical study of music except through 
their voices, and while we wish to teach music, not singing merely, 
we are necessarily held to this one path of approach. The other 
fact is that true appreciation must ever rest upon a foundation of 
systematic knowledge quite as much as upon intuition and un- 
analyzed experience. One outline of music work for the public 
schools of San Francisco worthily begins with this quotation from 
Julian Hawthorne: "There is no culture without roots * * *. 
Solid knowledge and comprehension can never be attained by accept- 
ing summaries and epitomes." Applied to public-school music this 
means that a knowledge of our tonal systems and their staff notation, 
ability to read music at sight, and a knowledge of musical structure 



374 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

are necessary. Not only this but in the more advanced years of 
school life knowledge of musical biography, history, form, and 
esthetics^ in plentiful detail, must be imparted if anything like true 
appreciation is to be attained. 

In planning methods of instruction in music the obtrusiveness of 
the first fact has led to difference, misunderstanding, and misdi- 
rection. The pupil studies music through the medium of his voice. 
His voice must, because of much use in singing, be carefully guarded, 
conserved, but he is not to be trained individually as a singer. To 
attempt this would be most unfortunate. It would place under 
conscious direction of the untutored mind of the child a complex 
physiological action that goes on in a far easier fashion if left uncon- 
scious, and it would lead him to think in terms of action instead of 
hearing upon every occasion of his approach to music. Again, the 
singing is very largely connected with words. Unless songs are pre- 
sented in such a manner as to counteract the tendency, the pupil soon 
comes to conceive all music as song- story, the text (or plot) of which 
he must try to supply from his imagination if, as in absolute music, 
no " program " or text is given. This error, arising in public schools, 
leads, more than any other single factor, to that spurious form of 
musical appreciation which seeks to put under every sonata, sym- 
phony, or even fugue, a picture or a story, and which has led to 
such absurdities as the invention of the title "Moonlight Sonata" 
for Beethoven's opus 27, No. 2, together with a quite untrue story 
about the circumstances of its composition. When the error is mani- 
fest the grade teachers must probably be charged with some measure 
of fault. Quite naturally they know more about literature than 
they do about music, and the salient fact about a song is to them 
the text, not the tones. They are quite likely, therefore, to " drama- 
tize " the song, which means that the words are likely to be emphasized 
and the events or scenes which they describe made as vivid to the 
imagination of the little learners as possible. Frequently the song 
may be acted out as a little drama; at least motions are likely to 
be added to quicken the realism of the impression. The result is 
that the children in their singing are seeing scenes instead of listen- 
ing to tones, are visualizing instead of hearing. That a measure of 
this imaginative visualizing is proper no one will deny, but that 
attention to the tonal facts of music is the paramount consideration 
in any system of instruction that seeks to develop genuine musicianly 
appreciation will probably be as promptly conceded. Again, the 
undue emphasis upon the words as a factor in the song when song 
seems to be, for the time, the whole of music, may sometimes lead to 
an inartistic kind of expression that novelists would call "local 
color." Quite without reference to the place of a note in the smooth 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 376 

and balanced flow of the phrase, this method would, if a graphic 
word came upon the note, cause it to be accented, held unduly, or even 
spoken. A song in such case becomes an elocutionary effort rather 
than a song, and the very burden of attention given to the song side 
of music leads to the momentary destruction of good singing in 
favor of declamation and harsh and misplaced vocalization. Finally, 
the persistence of this aspect of singing as an end instead of a means 
may lead, in more advanced work, to another misunderstanding of 
the nature of musical experience. If the songs are sung with feel- 
ing, with abandon, a certain physical exhilaration is often experi- 
enced. It is probably true that this purely phj^sical exhilaration 
often is mistaken for esthetic enjoyment and is believed to be a kind 
of reaction that properly falls under the category of musical appre- 
ciation. If too much emphasis is laid upon the vigor of physical 
performance and too little upon delicacy of conception of the music, 
this unconscious fallacy is very likely to receive strong encourage- 
ment. 

The second outstanding fact that is constantly operative in shap- 
ing methods and features of practice is the necessity of giving the 
pupil ample technical knowledge and power as an essential to his 
full appreciation of music. The difficulty here is in maintaining a 
musical habit of mind uninterruptedly during the process of tcch- 
aical development. Music must be so presented that' no technical 
fact is unrelated to musical experience and interest. If this prin- 
ciple is ignored a technical system may indeed be developed, but in 
such a way that it is quite insulated from the body of warm artistic 
feeling possessed by the student; and it wiil then stand quite arid 
and unfruitful, a piece of machinery with no worthy work to per- 
form. Tcchnic alone, so developed, has interest for the pupils, and 
the interest shown is often felt to constitute ample justification for 
such a system of instruction, but' the quality of reaction upon the in- 
dividual, which is the one important aim of musical education, is 
lacking, the gleam of the esthetic is missing, the mind and the heart 
do not keep time. 

Technical study, then, must be guided and inspired by musical in- 
terest ; technical facts must hold significance to this musical interest 
and must be discerned through the medium of its sympathetic search. 
Methods and forms of practice have differed most widely in the past 
and continue so to differ, with regard to their treatment of this 
fundamental problem. Sometimes the danger of insistence upon 
systematic technical study is so much feared that it is almost 
abandoned, and a course in singing that' is little more than rote sing- 
ing is the result. More frequently, especially in the past, the tech- 
nical phase has been developed in detached fashion, and the "in- 



376 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

spirational" side of school music has been lost. Again, a dual 
course is often found. A song course is begun in the first grade and 
persistently continued, and, by its side, but with no visible connec- 
tion with it, a course in technical study is begun and as persistently 
developed. Finally, there are courses that begin, as all must, with 
song (by rote, of course, at first) but, in this case, with song only. 
Later these familiar and well-loved songs are seen in their staff 
notation and the larger and most obvious of their features are 
observed. The small technical knowledge first gained is at once 
applied to the study of new songs of like structure, and each fresh 
advance in technical understanding is at once followed by like further 
application in other songs. Never is the pupil's freedom in musical 
expression made to wait upon the building up of a complete and in- 
dependent system of tcchnic and never does the technical tact' fail 
to have immediate and urgent musical significance. By this plan 
the technical facts explain the song that is in the focus of attention 
rather than constitute music in the abstract. This method is now 
well worked out in detail and is known as the "song study" or 
"observation" method. The other method, because it proceeds, at 
first by conjunct motion, and requires the pupil to arrive at his 
tones, in sight reading, by reckoning up and down the staff along 
the scale track, is known as the "scale" method. In a very broad 
classification, there are only these two methods, but there are numer- 
ous variants due either to the comparative amount of emphasis laid 
upon the one or the other of the two phases of musical study, or else 
to difference in minor details. 

tIT. VOCAL PRACTICE AND THE SINGING OF SONGS IN THE ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOLS OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

In applying to San Francisco the principles outlined in the fore- 
going sections, one preliminary observation must be made. The 
most important problems met with in the survey of the music de- 
partment were not problems of educational method and practice, 
but problems that arose in relation to forms of organization and 
administration imposed by statute and tradition upon the music de- 
partment and upon the whole school system. These problems, in 
importance, deserve to be given first place; but as they are, notwith- 
standing their importance, of quite special nature, and outside the 
field of specifically educational investigation, their consideration has 
been deferred to a later and separate chapter. The present section 
will therefore be given to an examination of methods and practice 
in school music teaching as found in San Francisco, considered from 
the pedagogical side only. 

In making the survey of music in the elementary schools 30 
schools were visited. In these schools the work of the pupils of 160 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 377 

rooms was heard. Some of this work was by separate classes in 
their own rooms, some of it was by larger groups of pupils, up to as 
high as eight rooms, in song recitals,- chorus practice, and sight sing- 
ing. Lessons conducted by the head supervisor, the assistant super- 
visor, special teachers, and regular graded teachers were all included, 
and schools in every part of the city were visited, bringing under 
observation the results attained with pupils of various nationalities 
and various types of home environment, and in schools of various 
kinds, such as schools for girls, primary schools, and intermediate 
schools. A good cross section was thus obtained and the work seen 
was undoubtedly representative. 

In general the trend of work in San Francisco is clearly toward 
vocal expression rather than toward general tonal receptiveness ; and 
it must therefore be classified as resting upon conscious or uncon- 
scious acceptance of the " primal cry " doctrine rather than upon the 
"pleasure of the ear in tone" belief. The manifestations of this 
prevailingly vocal trend were distinct and persistent throughout the 
entire term of the survey. Instructions in the manner of sitting, to 
secure good breath control, and directions to breathe deeply were 
constant. A few moments taken to breathing exercises were usually 
a feature. Vocalizing to various vowels, on scale and arpeggio suc- 
cessions, was often practiced, with intent to secure relaxation, proper 
voice placing, and flexibility of voice. 

Turning from vocalization specifically to the singing of songs, 
physical exhilaration and incontinent neural abandonment to the act 
of singing were often encouraged. In the primary grades the pic- 
ture drawn by the words was usually intensified by supplementary de- 
scriptions from the teacher, and so-called "dramatization," i. e., 
acting out the story by poses and movements on the part of the pupils, 
was developed to a point that implied systematic plan and effort. 
Attempts to secure " local color " by emphasizing or giving some 
sort of elocutionary effect to a single word or phrase, without refer- 
ence to balanced musical delivery, were not so frequent, but occurred 
frequently enough to attract the observer's attention and comment, 

In one or two cases this declamation advanced to the point of 
ignoring the tonality of such parts entirely; but this degree of 
emphasis was evidently sporadic, representing the vagaries of indi- 
vidual teachers. Much more serious was the effect which this desire 
for highly vitalized and unrestrained vocal expression had upon the 
accuracy of the reproduction of the song. Freedom of expression 
became markedly paramount, in several cases, to nice accuracy of 
ensemble and fidelity to the facts of the composition. Indeed the 
singing sometimes suggested the quality of improvisation rather than 
reproduction. 



378 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

There was also a tendency to encourage the singing of the song 
inaccurately in a whole-souled way rather than jeopardize freedom 
in an endeavor to be correct. This tendency reached its highest 
point and its most regrettable results in connection with part-singing. 
Rather than interrupt enthusiastic abandonment to the delivery of 
a song, or delay the day of its performance by insistence on the cor- 
rect learning and carrying of the parts, pupils were repeatedly 
permitted to sweep along in the current of hearty singing when they 
were not getting a note of the part to which they had been assigned, 
but were, instead, all singing soprano, cither in the proper octave or 
an octave lower. Often, in consequence, the pupils were quite un- 
concerned as to their performance of a lower part and, indeed, 
probably did not know whether they had carried it or not. A dis- 
tinct loss in musical power is implied by this condition. However, 
the matter of part-singing must be discussed in several other aspects 
and is to be made the subject later of a separate paragraph, so no 
further comment need be made here. 

It is not to be supposed that the practices described above are all 
condemned here as being in themselves bad. On the contrary they 
are, with the obvious exceptions of unfaithfulness to the facts of the 
music and the substitution of dramatization and declamation for 
musical beauty, good and desirable practices that may well be incor- 
porated in any system of instruction in music in public schools. The 
problem is one of comparative emphasis, and the doubtful aspect of 
the situation is not that these practices are present, but that other 
practices are absent or are present in too meager proportion, being 
crowded out by the vocal practices. 

It should be noted, too, that the practices described are very effi- 
ciently carried out and in some cases are extraordinarily well done. 
The vocal practice, including breathing, was never blundering and 
was usually quick, concentrated, and efficient. The wisdom of for- 
mal and conscious vocal practice for children in primary grades 
must, it is true, be seriously questioned. Indirect and unconscious 
means for inducing the proper vocal action are undoubtedly pref- 
erable. These take no time, and the danger of artificial tone produc- 
tion, which is ever present even with mature students of voice, is 
by such means avoided. But if conscious vocal practice is admitted 
at all, that in the schools of San Francisco must be given good 
ranking; and, further, the effort evidently was preponderantly to 
induce a frame of mind which would evoke the desired vocal response 
rather than to focus attention sharply upon the physiological act. 
This, however, was too frequently attempted through the medium of 
formal vocal exercises, upon which a mood was arbitrarily laid, 
rather than through the influence of songs expressive in them- 
selves. 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 379 

Nevertheless, it may be said that, as a net result of the course as a 
whole, the voices of the children in the schools of San Francisco are, 
except in one department of the work, well taken care of, are never 
injured, and are frequently, in the case of groups of pupils and 
individuals, given exceptionally valuable development. A notable 
instance of such valuable development was observed in the higher 
grades of a girls' school. The voices here were, of course, all prac- 
tically uniform and for this reason and by reason of the age of the 
students were well adapted to concerted vocal practice. The result 
was an exhibition of fine vocal technique and beautiful singing that 
was extraordinarily delightful. 

The tone sought by those in charge of the music work is the light, 
head voice, " thin register " long ago accepted by practically all who 
deal with the singing of children as the natural and proper tone for 
them. Occasionally instances were observed, however, of a forced 
throaty tone. When this occurred it was invariably due to a desire 
on the part of some teacher to secure greater "effect." Mass and 
breadth of tone are desirable to the adult listener, especially if he 
is not an expert in dealing with children's voices and consequently 
is not trained to appreciate the beautiful delicacy and flexibility of 
their tone above the robust effects produced by other media of expres- 
sion. If the song is one demanding intensity of dramatic expression 
or heroic quality, there at once arises the danger of forcing the chil- 
dren to a strength or breadth of tone that is unmusical and injurious. 

The nature of the music usually provided for children is such that 
this difficulty does not arise. It is simple, naive, untroubled by the 
passionate dramatic quality that invests much of the music written 
for adults, and which springs from a background of world experience 
that is all unknown to the child. Schumann, Beineclse, Taubert. 
NTevin, Eleanor Smith, Jessie Gaynor, and others have given us such 
a song literature appropriate in content as well as in vocal register; 
and many such may be found among the folk songs of many nations 
But occasionally, as, for instance, in connection with patriotic exer- 
cises, the child must sing the more robust songs of maturity; and 
sometimes he is trained to sing songs of dramatic type, such as the 
fervid airs of lurid operas, in obedience to a mistaken method of 
inculcating " appreciation." That he should sing the patriotic songs 
is right, but he should sing these in his own true voice and not as a 
pseudoadult. This proper method of singing is the rule in the 
schools of San Francisco, and departures from it are to be regarded 
as deviations arising from insufficient strength of supervision and a 
lamentably meager supply of material. 1 Further, the song material 
which the department has by heroic effort and against many difficul- 
ties provided the children has been uniformly of high musical value 

1 The section on Administration treats of these phases more fully. 



380 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

and almost invariably appropriate to the voices of the pupils and to 
their particular stage of thought and feeling. 

Up to the time of the change of voice the voices of all children, 
girls and boys, are simply treble voices, practically equal for all pur- 
poses in range, timbre, and strength. The time of change is, with 
the exceptional individual, in the sixth year in school, is more marked 
in the seventh year, and is well-defined feature in the eighth year. 
If the school has a large number of pupils who have been retarded 
in grade because of the necessity of doing wage-earning work out of 
school, or ignorance of the English language or other cause, the num- 
ber of changing or changed voices in the seventh year will be greater. 
Highly favored localities, on the other hand, may show few ado- 
lescent voices or even none in the eighth year. The practice of 
teaching in these years must accordingly be very flexible, and a wide 
range of material, offering an adequate repertoire in each of several 
types of part songs, should be provided. 

Prior to the change of voice, however, two-part singing and later 
three-part singing, with treble-voice parts only, is a desirable and 
universal feature of school music. Through some sort of inner de- 
velopment, rather than outward training, pupils seem to demand, 
at a certain time, the harmonic quality, the blending of voices in 
harmonic parts. An investigation of public-school music in the 
United States by the United States Bureau of Education 1 showed 
that this demand was recognized with surprising unanimity as tak- 
ing rise in the fourth year in school ; and the introduction* of two- 
part singing was accordingly reported, in the great majority of 
cases, to take place in that year. Three-part singing, using treble- 
voice parts, was found to be the norm in the sixth and seventh years, 
and three-part and four-part singing, with a bass part included in 
the practice, was usually found in the eighth year. This general 
practice may be regarded as approved and correct. 

In San Francisco two-part singing is, in accordance with this gen- 
eral practice, introduced in the fourth year and is continued in the 
fifth year. It is not, however, developed in the fifth year as fully 
as it should be, and the development of part singing in the succeed- 
ing years is weak in amount and incorrect as to method. Lack of 
proper material is unquestionably the most potent cause of this 
shortcoming, which is the most serious one met with on the educa- 
tional side, especially in relation to the seventh and eighth grades: 
but lack of material does not explain all the shortcomings with rela- 
tion to these grades, and does not account to even an equal extent 
for the questionable methods of procedure in the fifth and sixth 
grades. Here another cause is undoubtedly operative, namely, a 
comparative lack of interest in the singing of lower parts, due to too 

1 Bulletin, 1914, No. 33. 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 381 

great a liking for spontaneous, enthusiastic, unpremeditated singing 
as contrasted with the thoughtful, musicianly training which part 
singing implies. 

Another phase of the treatment accorded part-singing does not 
find so ready or so satisfactory an explanation in theory. It is the 
practice of classifying voices into parts upon the quite irrelevant 
basis of sex. Prior to the beginning of the change of voice all 
voices of children of both sexes are treble and have approximately 
the same range, which is that of a soprano. Part singing, in the 
earlier years in which it is adopted, is therefore not a practice neces- 
sitated by the presence of different kinds of voices, but is rather 
for the purpose of enriching the musical enjoyment, experience, and 
power of the pupils. There is no tone in either part of these school 
songs that is not within the range of every pupil — their voices being 
equal — and, indeed, the whole range of both parts is frequently com- 
passed in unison songs, such as the " Star-Spangled Banner." There 
is, therefore, no possible harm in singing one or the other of the 
parts, provided that that part is not invariably taken. 

To sing a certain one of the parts invariably would, of course, be 
unfortunate for two reasons : it would tend to warp the voice to one 
side, or at least would permit one half of the voice to deteriorate 
through disuse; and it would deprive the pupil of the growth in 
musical comprehension and power which comes from singing in 
various relations to the ensemble. Accordingly, the approved prac- 
tice is to divide the room quite at random for one song and reverse 
the assignment of parts on the next song. Also it is a good and 
common practice (totally neglected, however, as far as could be 
observed in San Francisco) to have all pupils practice each part, 
when the parts are tried separately, before attempt is made to com- 
bine them. These practices insure equal and proper vocal and gen- 
eral musical development to all. 

The practice in San Francisco, as observed almost without excep- 
tion in a wide range of schools, is unfortunate. The boys are segre- 
gated on one side of the room, the girls on the other, and the boys 
are then invariably assigned the lower part. This practice tacitly 
affirms, to the minds of the pupils, first, that boys' voices differ from 
girls' — which is untrue, in the sense implied — and, secondly, that the 
nature of the difference is that they are lower, which is a lamentable 
untruth. Such practice tends to exaggerate, on false premises, the 
separateness of the sexes, to warp the voices of the boys, and, though 
increasing their musical power, to withhold similar growth in power 
from the girls. Fortunately there is so much unison singing in most 
grades in San Francisco and such careful and skillful treatment of 
the voice in special exercises that any possible detriment to the voice 



382 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAJSf FRANCISCO. 

is avoided, but the thwarting of proper musical development is » 
sure result. 

The unfortunate results due to the method of managing part 
singing reach their culmination in the seventh and eighth grades, 
where changing and changed voices are present. The boys' section 
here, which is still continued, consists of quite unequal voices. The 
majority are always trebles. These are seated with the basses and 
are assigned the same part as the basses. This part is sometimes an 
alto, sometimes a bass part. If an alto, the treble-voice boys may 
carry it quite successfully — or could do so, if they had the music 
before them — but the basses, who are singing an octave lower, and 
whose voices are not yet matured to the fall reach downward of 
adult bass voices, are led uncomfortably low. Soprano an octave 
lower, is, for the majority of its tones, a more convenient register 
for them. Having often no music to guide them, being uncertain 
as to what they are trying to do, having the impulse and being en- 
couraged to sing freely, it is small wonder that these immature 
basses promptly gravitate to soprano an octave lower. But the 
soprano so sung is likely soon to exceed their range on the higher 
side. In such predicament they sing the melody two octaves lower, 
or mumble an inchoate part that, at its harmonic best, follows the 
undulations of the melody in perfect fourths or fifths. 

Meanwhile the boys with unchanged voices are affected by the 
example of the larger boys and swing from their alto to the soprano 
in any octave that is comfortable to them, usually singing its lower 
tones in the higher octave, its higher tones in the lower octave. If 
the part assigned all the boys is a real bass part, written on the bass 
clef, there is considerably more hope for the basses, but obviously the 
treble-voice boys are quite improperly assigned and are at a dis- 
advantage. It is a physical impossibility for them to sing the bass 
part where it is written, for they have treble voices. If they sing it 
an octave higher, as I heard them do in some cases, they frequently 
cross to tones above the soprano. The abnormality of this is sensed 
rather than understood by them and they, too, take the familiar route 
of escape, namely, they sing the soprano. Unison singing, in short, 
is the rule. This might not lead to ill results if it were systematically 
adopted, done by intention, on properly selected material, and were 
clearly understood by the singers. In such case the negative ill of 
lack of training in a richer and higher form of musical practice would 
be the only one that would result. But unison singing by unequal 
voices and when the intention is rather to sing in parts is very bad. 
Pupils come to think they are carrying a part when they are not. 
and utter confusion as to the nature of the various parts and the 
nature, range, and possibilities of their own voices results. 



MUSIC IIS THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 383 

The pitch of tones on the bass clef as compared with treble, and 
the relation of their voices to the pitches indicated by the treble and 
bass clefs is subject to serious misconception. Oddly enough, the 
result to the ear of the hearer is not as unmusical, as might be ex- 
pected, for always there is a fine rich mass of girl and boy soprano 
tones singing the melody, and the ear follows this attractive line of 
tone and ignores the vague murmurings beneath. Then, again, the 
lower- voiced pupils have quick cars and they change octaves with 
facility and rarely sing leng out of tune. Only by sitting down with 
the boys and singing with them does the full extent of their malprac 
tice become evident. 

The voices do suffer more, however, in these upper grades, not so 
much through strain as through the acquisition of bad methods, due 
to continued attempts to sing low. The efforts of the treble-voice 
boys to sing bass — a yearning ambition with almost every boy unless 
carefully guided — are particularly unfortunate in this respect. Still, 
vocal practice is so carefully guarded in other ways that the evi) 
effects of this faulty part-singing are largely counterbalanced. The 
loss in true musical understanding is the greatest and most irretriev- 
able one. 

To correct the condition described, several steps should be taken 
First, plenty of music, suitably arranged for the voices of the grade* 
involved, should be provided. An abundance of good material is- 
available and its cost per pupil is slight. The provision of music 
in the San Francisco schools, not only for these grades, but through 
out the system, is shamefully meager.. The boys and girls of the 
city deserve better treatment. In musical endowment, quick response, 
and fine spirit they are alike admirable, and it has been a joy to 
be with them. If the adults of San Francisco could see how readily 
the children respond to all that is done for them, and could see how 
much more richly the children of many other cities are provided for. 
I feel certain that their own children would no longer be deprived 
of their rightful heritage. 

The memory of a recitation by two eighth-grade classes combined 
remains with me. They essayed with eager interest to sing for me 
a chorus or two in three parts — two treble parts and bass. Of music 
there was none, except a copy for the pianist. The pupils had. 
however, written the words of the songs, along with the words of 
many others, in some blank books they carried ; and under each word 
was the initial letter of the musical syllable which represented the 
pitch to which the word was to be sung. The singing was almost 
r complete failure for all but sopranos — who, of course, remembered 
the tune. Teachers and pupils were alike disconcerted and embar 
rassed. There was but one thing to say: Given half a chance, those 
pupils would have acquitted themselves admirably, but thev wore 



384 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

handicapped. They need have felt no shame for their work, for 
they did all that was humanly possible; but ono dollar's worth of 
music would have transformed the lesson. 

The second recommendation is to stop the practice of segregating 
the boys and assigning them the lower part. In the matter of classi- 
fying voices as to range, assigning them to parts that lie within 
this range, and giving each pupil an intelligent conception of his 
voice, not as to tone production and placement, but in relation to 
its register upon the staff, in both treble and bass clefs, and as an 
instrument for carrying a part in part singing, there is, speaking 
generally, no technic whatever in the higher grades in the San 
Francisco schools. 

The first step in the acquisition of such a technic is to accept the 
obvious truth that boys' voices, until the change of voice, are not 
different from girls' voices and are, after the change, different from 
them and from one another. There should be no permanent assign- 
ment of a part for any normal treble voice until the seventh grade 
at earliest, and irregular and changing voices should be known inti- 
mately as to range and possibilities by both teacher and pupil and 
should be provided with music that gives them a suitable part to 
sing. As the voices continue to change, every change should be 
observed closely and corresponding adaptations should be made in 
the instructions given to the pupils. 

But let it not be forgotten that, though this technical plan could 
be adopted at any time, it will be successful, other things being equal, 
only in proportion to the amount of material provided. Confronted 
by such a dearth of material as exists at present, the department 
could inaugurate reform, and this should be done; but richness of 
attainment along the reformed lines, especially in seventh and eighth 
grades, is impossible until better material than that now in use and 
a marked increase in the amount of material is at hand. 

This section on singing in the elementary schools of San Francisco 
should not be brought to a close without comment upon one or two 
other features that seem characteristic because of their nature and 
the degree of attention they receive. One of these is the use of 
songs to develop patriotism. National songs and State songs are 
kept in repertoire and sung frequently and with admirable spirit. 
Care is taken, too, that such songs shall be sung under impressive 
conditions and with earnestness. While specific musical training 
is not furthered by the practice, ethical and social training is fos- 
tered; and in a city where there is a large foreign population this 
practice has no small influence in Americanizing and unifying the 
spirit of the city's people. Another value is attained by the practice 
of having the children assemble frequently in large groups for a 
period of song. Wherever an assembly hall or large room makes it 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 385 

possible, groups of pupils from a number of rooms are assembled 
and conducted through a program of attractive songs. This practice, 
like the preceding one, does not aim at or attain musical value spe- 
cifically so much as it attains elevation of the social spirit in the 
school and the development of fraternity of feeling. 

In one school, where practically all the pupils are Italians, this 
concerted singing attained a quality and realized a result of quite 
extraordinary nature. The pupils from eight rooms were gathered 
in a basement assembly hall and there they sang songs in English 
and Italian with a fervor, a rapt concentration that I have never 
heard equaled. The racial heritage of a musical people here came 
to the surface in all its ardor, all its sensitiveness, all its longing. 
Those children in future years will certainly remember the American 
schoolroom, where all that was most profound and vital in their 
natures was in some subtle way called forth as though in dedication 
to the high purposes of life, with abiding love and with active 
gratitude for the American institution that so uplifted them. 

IV. TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF SAN 

FRANCISCO. 

Any course in music in public schools is shaped largely in accord- 
ance with the basic texts in use. If these texts represent, in kind 
and amount, the free and comparatively unrestricted choice of the 
department, the principles and aims of the department may reason- 
ably be evaluated by an examination of the material. In San Fran- 
cisco, however, the selection of material has been somewhat ham- 
pered and the provision of it has been sharply limited in amount. 
The causes for this will be discussed in the chapter on administra- 
tion. A consequence is that some slight divergence exists between 
material and forms of practice. 

The basic text used in the elementary schools of San Francisco is 
one which represents a rigid adherence to the older of the two meth- 
ods described in section 2, namely, the a scale " method. Practice in 
San Francisco follows the method very largely indeed ; yet there are 
some features in the practice that suggest to the observer that such 
conformity is due to the necessity of using a text according to its 
intention, for the sake of efficiency, rather than to the complete sym- 
pathy of the department with the ideals and aims of the course. 
For instance, the most clearly marked trend of the work in San 
Francisco is to give to the pupils enthusiastic pleasure in singing — 
pleasure in the act of singing rather than in the general musical 
impression that the song in turn creates in the singer ; but the books 
in use, in their rigid adherence to a plan of technical instruction, are 
93815—17 25 



386 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

distinguished by a remarkable dearth of songs, and imply a desire 
for intellectual and aural attention rather than ebullient joy in song. 
The course in San Francisco is therefore a dual one, with the 
inspirational and technical activities sharply separated. This is 
unfortunate, for technic should add its power and broad enlighten- 
ment to music proper, and musical understanding and interest should 
impel, direct, and illuminate all technical study. The two should 
interpenetrate so completely that they form but one clear design, 
expressed in one result, namely, intelligent and sympathetic appre- 
ciation of music. However, to maintain the two phases and yet 
treat them separately is not so bad as to omit one or the other alto- 
gether. If a union can not be secured a balance may at least be kept. 
But what sort of balance is maintained is the next question, and 
the answer given without hesitation and as a result of wide and 
careful observation is that inspirational singing is more developed 
in San Francisco than is technical power. The reason is creditable. 
Musical feeling, even if of a limited kind, is rightly felt to be the 
important achievement, and if it must be put into opposition with 
pure technic it usually will and should display superior vigor of 
growth. A qualifying statement should also be made here. Power 
and knowledge are not necessarily commensurate, and there is more 
technical knowledge than power in the schools of San Francisco. 
This is merely to say that the knowledge gained is not fully applied 
and consequently remains academic. 

Time after time pupils were observed to answer correctly ques- 
tions about signatures, measures, etc., and then display compara- 
tively slight ability to read music in the keys and kinds of measures 
discussed. This is due to the duality of the course, as previously 
described. A goodly amount of singing on genuine songs is rightly 
wanted. These are not in the books and practically no money is 
spent for such material. This parsimony compels a most extraordi- 
nary amount of mimeographing of songs. But even then the chil- 
dren can not be supplied with copies. The prevailing plan is for 
the teachers each to be supplied with a copy and for the pupils to 
learn the song by means of blackboard copies, copies that they them- 
selves make, or no copies at all. 

All the devices adopted are alike in one respect — they lead to a 
large amount of rote singing. Part singing suffers particularly 
from such makeshift methods, for a part song can not be successfully 
learned and retained in memory through rote singing. It must be 
repeated here that this lack of musical material alone is sufficient to 
destroy all hope of successful part singing. But if a desirable num- 
ber of good songs are to be sung at all in San Francisco, they must be 
presented in such fashion. On the other hand, technical power must 
be developed through reading music. The books present, preponder- 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 387 

antly, only dry and unmusical tonal successions in the form of exer- 
cises. There are enough of these to enable the student to develop 
technical power, if he studied them and nothing else ; but in the time 
allotted to music, which is GO minutes per week, he would have no 
time left for songs. In this dilemma the divided course taken by the 
department is a good one ; but if an abundance of good song material 
that could serve also for technical study were at hand, the gain that 
would result in efficiency and in broadening and enriching the course 
is surely obvious. 

Another tendency that is at variance with the strict intentions of 
the music books in use was noted in the primary grades of a few 
schools. It consisted in the adoption of some features of the " song- 
study " method in a form modified by the nature and amount of the 
musical material available, and possibly, by the pedagogical faith of 
the department. The general outlines of this method have already 
been given. 1 The phase of the "song-study" method found was the 
use, in first and second grades, of songs of " song-study " type. These 
were taken from books that follow the "song-study" method, and 
were mimeographed and sent out to teachers to be copied by them 
upon the blackboard. No evidence was found, in departmental out- 
lines or by observing the practice in the schoolrooms, of a well 
wrought plan for dealing with these songs. An outline for first 
grades directs, " observation work from songs on board," but the 
exact nature of the w T ork and the specific songs to be used are not 
stated. Doubtless more explicit directions were given in meetings 
for teachers; but the conclusion is that the work is vague and un- 
formed, and this is borne out by a survey of practice in the school- 
rooms. Against this conclusion must be weighed the fact that the 
term, at the time of the survey, was in its opening month. Observa- 
tions of songs could not be expected from first grades at such a time. 
In one second grade, however, an " observation " song was found 
clearly and neatly written upon the blackboard, ready for study by 
the children. Instead, however^ of first reviewing the song as a 
song, the children attacked it, using syllables, as a pure sight-singing 
exercise. The conclusion f rqm this incident, and as a result of the 
survey as a whole, is that attempts at the " song-study " method are 
not fully and systematically developed, but are, because suitable 
material for their development is lacking, somewhat timidly ex- 
perimental. The presence of such effort at all, however, brings a 
different atmosphere into the schoolroom, and the attempts are inter- 
esting as giving evidence of tendencies that are at variance with the 
course in use, and that transcend it. 

The school just referred to, in which an "observation" song wa9 
studied in second grade, exhibited some of the best results seen in 



1 See p. 374. 



388 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

the system. The tone in singing was ideal, the spirit of the pupils 
beautiful. They sang with manifest delight, and it was a delight in 
the beauty of music rather than in the physical act of singing. In 
sight-singing they were quick, alert, and achieved success through an 
uplift of mind rather than through a shrewdly rational drive of 
mind. In consequence their tone remained easy and the spirit of 
music remained in the rooms. This school, which was a primary 
school, and embraced but the first four grades, must be held to rep- 
resent, for those grades, the aims of the department successfully 
attained, for all was the result of the plan and system prescribed 
elsewhere, but not so successfully administered everywhere. 

The aims of the department, so revealed, are open to very little 
criticism; but the means used and at hand for attaining them are 
open to more. If means were better, such results would be more fre- 
quent ; also the results attained in this same school would be reached 
by more normal effort on the part of the teachers. Shortcomings in 
means are, here as elsewhere, the unfortunate quality and insufficient 
quantity of the material provided and the consequent duality, previ- 
ously mentioned, of aim and practice. This duality, this balance in 
opposition of the artistic and technical phases of instruction, is un- 
avoidable while the present material only is at hand. Doubtless the 
department accepts it as an evil to be borne, rather than as a normal 
plan to be administered. 

The mode of treating monotones which is systematically followed 
throughout the schools of the city was illustrated in this same school. 
The monotcnes, in a segregated group, were encouraged to try vari- 
ous calls, cries, and tones, in high register, using high and frontally 
placed vowels in connection with consonants adapted to the same 
purpose, such as m-m. This work was admirably done and achieved 
quick and good results. The percentage of monotones throughout the 
schools generally was observed to be small. Furthermore, the depart- 
mental outlines present a good discussion of the subject and give 
valuable directions, and the elementary teachers give evidence con- 
tinually of clear understanding and live interest. It may be said, 
therefore, that a real technic for treating monotones is general in the 
schools, and this technic rests upon the right premise; namely, that 
the monotone is almost invariably vocal, not aural; that, in other 
words, he is not defective in recognition of tones, but unskilled or 
awkward in making vccal adjustments to produce them. He needs 
only to be lifted from the level of his speaking voice — the mechanism 
of which he is wrongly trying to use — to the level of his light, small 
singing voice, and feel the mechanistic manner of its production to 
be cured. 

This cure the plan observed is well designed to effect. It is open 
to criticism, perhaps, only in two respects — though all authorities 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 389 

would not agree upon these matters. One is the belief that the man- 
ner of breathing affects the monotone in his endeavors to produce 
the right pitch and that exercises in breathing should therefore be 
given. It is rather very doubtful if the excessively full breaths taken 
do not cause a tightening, of the throat that increases the difficulty. 
This same packing of the lungs with breath is systematically prac- 
ticed with all children in all grades, and is subject to the same doubt 
in this larger field, especially in primary grades. 

The other point is the directing of the child to conscious position- 
ing of his lips, tongue, and jaw. The outlines suggest this, and a 
little of it was observed. To the extent that it is done it is bad. The 
child can not direct the physiological process half so well by con- 
scious manipulation as he can by unconscious imitation of the tone 
and manner of the teacher. He is likely, rather, to fall into a host 
of bad practices if he thinks how (physiologically) he sings at all. 
But in practice, in San Francisco, reliance is placed, in the main, 
upon imitation of the mood, manner, and tone of the teacher; and 
the results generally are so good that there can certainly be no serious 
misdirection. Another suggestion that might be offered, however, is 
that the result can be obtained with less effort, less disarranging of 
the regular schedule of school activities, and with less danger of mak- 
ing the child self-conscious, by a plan x of individual singing, sys- 
tematically carried on as a regular part of the daily lesson, than by 
these special lessons for monotones. 

A feature of practice that was observed with depressing frequency 
was the use of the old " hand signs " for indicating steps of the scale 
that were to be sung. The practice is an official part of the course, 
being required by the departmental outlines. It is quite useless, and 
is even deterrent. The symbols for tones are notes upon the staff, and 
when the time comes for approaching them they may as well be 
approached directly. To learn other symbols, of totally different 
nature, does not facilitate learning the regular symbols later. To 
delay — and do something else meanwhile — is not to prepare. 

Yet in the San Francisco schools two sets of symbols other than 
those of staff notations are regularly used, and a facile technic on the 
part of the pupils is required in each form. The two are "hand 
signs " and what is termed in the departmental outlines the " vertical 
staff " — often termed the scale " ladder." It consists of a ladder-like 
figure having eight rounds, labeled with numbers from 1 to 8 and the 
corresponding syllables, do to do. A third device that is also used 
in first year is an outline of a stairway of eight steps, marked as 
were the rounds of the " ladder." 

The staff is not presented in first year, but the scale is taught by 
syllables, and interval drill is given, using these devices. In second 

1 For a description of the plan, see Giddings, T. P. : " School Music Teaching." 



390 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

grades the staff is presented and used, but the use of hand signs and 
the vertical staff for interval drill is continued. The percentage of 
time given to this interval drill is moderate, but the practice at all 
in these grades is divergent from a better road of progress, and the 
symbols used for it, especially the hand signs, make it still more 
objectionable. 

To separate intervallic leaps from their employment in song r divest 
them of all accent and rhythm, and then present them, abstract and 
meaningless and through forms of symbolization that are temporary, 
and require the child of six or eight years to acquire a considerable 
technic in them when he might be dealing, with music itself— all 
of this is, to genuine musical education, what skill in solving some 
form of mathematical puzzles is to live, progressive " number " work ; 
namely, the acquisition of a technic that does not function when 
applied to the realities of the subject itself. It implies the mistaking 
of a factor for the whole, the division of one organic subject into a 
multitude of subjects, each pursued as though it were an end in itself. 

There is constant chance in all school music everywhere of a 
cleavage like this merely because the process of teaching music is 
complex. The children must use their voices; therefore voice train- 
ing may become set off as a separate process. They must use their 
ears ; hence a separate set of practices for ear training. They must 
feel rhythm ; therefore the development of rhythmic feeling is some- 
times begun as an independent process. They must make skips; 
hence interval drill. They must sing freely in various musical 
moods; therefore the singing of inspirational songs again as a sepa- 
rate feature. This list might be added to indefinitely. 

It is obvious that if instruction is to be split up into many partial 
endeavors and the whole time to the subject is to be only an hour 
a week, some features will be unduly exploited and others will be 
unduly disregarded. In a, large system of schools there will be 
found, too, teachers of different tendencies, some of whom will con- 
centrate on one feature, some upon another. One instance is recalled 
of perfectly phenomenal work with hand signs. It was with a third- 
grade class, but, as the term was just begun, the work was a review 
of second-grade work, where response to hand signs is especially 
drilled. The teacher's hand moved with lightning rapidity; it 
seemed almost beyond the capability of the human eye to follow it,: 
yet the children responded with awe-inspiring infallibility. They 
sang instantaneously any tone of the scale in any conceivable relation 
as the teacher's hand indicated it, but the probability is that had 
a song of far simpler elements been placed before them in staff no- 
tation, to sing fluently, rhythmically, musically at sight, with 
syllables, they would have met defeat 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 391 

To modify the innermost subjective moods of the mass of the 
people in the direction of purification, elevation, and strengthening 
of mood is the aim of school music; and this must be done almost 
altogether through the medium of vocal music, delicately and skill- 
fully managed so as to make it produce its utmost. The song is . 
the body and in it all the members meet in intricate and perfectly 
balanced relation. Not only are all the members in the song, but 
it is there only that their meaning, their purpose, their mode of 
functioning can be described. To attack the song directly, there- 
fore, not only saves time but leads to an educational result of quite 
different quality. It is true that unification can not be always quite 
complete ; the attention must be turned specifically now to one musi- 
cal element, now to another, for the moment. This is the reason, 
indeed, for attacking the complete musical expression itself first. If 
this is done, any element, separated in later analysis from the song, 
can not be thought of in unrelated fashion as it must be when ap- 
proached from its own isolated base. There should be constant en- 
deavor, nevertheless, to unify the various processes. In a large 
system of schools they are bound to draw apart, for the reasons stated 
above, rather than draw together, unless the utmost effort toward 
unification is made. 

The amalgamating force in San Francisco may be stated as high 
valuation of the joy of song and sympathy with childhood and con- 
sequent discernment of the worth to children of truly musical values. 
Against this the disintegrating force of the material provided is con- 
stantly operative. The books present clearly the divisional scheme — 
and books always will be, and must be, to a large extent, followed by 
a corps of teachers. Consequently we have the duality of course, 
previously described, and the further breaking up of the technical 
course into the several processes mentioned above. 

Several features of instruction remain either for additional com- 
ment or for first discussion. Mention has been made of the feature 
of formal vocal practice as an indication of the trend toward the 
vocal side of music, and at the same point, and later in connection 
with the discussion of work with monotones, the advisability of 
directing the conscious attention of primary-grade children to the 
manner of producing, developing, or placing tone has been ques- 
tioned. The emphasis upon this phase of school music, both in suc- 
cessive outlines to teachers and in practice in the schoolroom, is quite 
extraordinary. It is mentioned here, in a third critical light, as 
another of the separate and divergent features that should all be 
blended. 

The vocal practice is not, it must be said again, bad in itself, but is 
remarkably correct and clever. The points in question are rather 
the quality and proportion of attention given it, its applicability to 



392 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SA3ST FEANCISCO. 

very young children, and its separateness. As revealing the basis 
for the somewhat critical attitude of this report, it may be said that 
while the tone and singing in the San Francisco schools is good, it is 
equaled in many cities where the attention is subconscious as related 
to voice production an& where no vocal practice as a formal and 
separate step is ever undertaken. 

Dictation, oral and written, is systematically planned and ad- 
mirably carried on throughout all the grades. No feature of practice 
observed deserves heartier commendation than this. Through it the 
pupils are receiving valuable ear training. It serves in this respect 
to balance the too great stress put upon the purely singing phase of 
the instruction. It was never inappropriate to the age of the child, 
and, while necessarily a somewhat separate feature, it was never more 
formally separate than the nature of the practice and the nature of 
the musical material studied required. If songs were the material 
provided for technical study, then fragments of these songs and 
intervals and characteristic tonal features of the particular songs 
subjected at the time to study could well become the basis, especially 
in the lower grades, for dictation work ; but they are not, and nothing 
better than is at present done can be done. This statement is sweep- 
ing, but is justly so. 

A detail of practice that was annoying, but that was sporadic and 
quite outside the intention of the department, was the constant sing- 
ing with the pupils by some teachers on familiar songs. In one or 
two primary rooms it is doubtful whether the children have ever 
heard their own voices unsupported. Their singing would probably 
be quite weak and flat were the dominating captainship of the 
teacher withdrawn. The children should be permitted to find their 
own impulse to sing, within themselves, should hear their own voices 
so that they can gradually form an idea of the effect produced and 
the effects possible to produce, should acquire the sense of responsi- 
bility and the confidence that unsupported singing by them would 
give. All of this is obvious, and the practice noted probably is an 
unfortunate habit formed unconsciously. The regular teachers will 
have to guard' themselves in this particular, as supervision is too 
scant to guard against it for them. 

Individual singing is an extremely valuable practice that should be 
incorporated, in a systematic and well-planned form, as an integral 
feature of every school course. It was mentioned in the paragraph 
devoted to monotones. As planned by Mr. Giddings, director of 
music in Minneapolis, it enables the teacher to hear all the pupils in 
a room individually in three or four minutes, with several valuable 
by-products secured meanwhile, and with no divergence from the 
general line of study and progress— no separateness. 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 393 

The outlines current in San Francisco direct that individual sing- 
ing be done but provide no plan, and no evidence of anything like 
systematic practice of the feature was seen during our entire period 
of visiting. Such work as may be done later in the term is certainly 
not organized in any such way as to give individual practice regu- 
larly to every pupil within a specified period. There is value, of 
course, in work that falls short of this, but the much greater value 
of thorough practice could be gained with no increase in the time or 
effort required. It is the only approved practice that is notably lack- 
ing in the San Francisco plan. 

There is great interest in instrumental music among the pupils 
of the San Francisco schools, and, considering the difficulties in the 
way of its encouragement — difficulties that are in the way of the de- 
partment of music everywhere, and that will be discussed in the 
chapter on administration — it has received a degree of attention and 
support that could hardly have been expected. Pupils who play the 
piano are sought out, are asked to play for school programs and are 
appointed to serve as accompanists for the school. Still richer in 
effect, and requiring infinitely more of a contribution of time and 
effort from some devoted teacher or supervisor, has been the organi- 
zation of school orchestras. In several schools visited, orchestras 
were in process of organization for the term, and their first rehearsal 
was being looked forward to eagerly. Naturally there was not much 
to hear, for a number of the more advanced members in elementary 
school orchestras are always from eighth grades, and these had just 
been promoted to high schools. The interest shown, however, by all 
members of the teaching staff with whom discussion of orchestral 
work was held, and their enthusiastic readiness to give help, was 
delightful. It revealed another one of the voluntary contributions 
that devoted teachers and principals in San Francisco make to the 
school system when opportunities for service to the children would 
otherwise go by unimproved. Orchestral practice in schools deserves 
not only such interest but, in addition, systematic administrative pro- 
vision. No concerted activity that young people can undertake 
brings forth finer qualities of spirit within them than does their 
cooperation in orchestral playing. An orchestra in a school helps 
greatly also to organize a desirable school spirit and to grace public 
functions of the school. Added to this is the interest in absolute 
or pure music, as distinguished from song, which it disseminates 
quite insensibly among the pupils, and the knowledge of orchestral 
instruments and appreciation of orchestral idiom which it imparts to 
them. For the sake of these values and others which will be dis- 
cussed in the section " Music in the High Schools " it deserves to be 
fostered. At the time of the survey the number of orchestras and 
the number of players for the current term could not be accurately 



394 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

foretold ; but, while exact figures were not available, it was computed 
that at the end of 1915 there were about 20 orchestras in the 80 ele- 
mentary schools, with approximately 120 members. 

V. MUSIC IN HIGH SCHOOLS. 

Music in high schools is a branch of comparatively late growth. 
Fifteen years ago only a number so small that it may practically be 
ignored of even the most advanced high schools had any systematic 
work in music beyond chorus practice, and in the great majority of 
high schools this was a recreational school activity rather than a pro- 
gressive course of instruction. The cause undoubtedly was the 
academic nature of the curriculum which was then dominated by 
the college ; and to-day, even, the average American college is a pa- 
thetic if not a sinister figure in th& picture of our national musical 
development. With the growing emancipation of the high school 
from the academic traditions of former years, music, along with 
manual training and other subjects, began to find its place. 

It is eminently right that music should have place, and large place, 
in a high-school course. At no period in life is the individual so well 
tuned to the message of music and so responsive to the good in- 
fluences it may radiate as in these years of adolescence. The senses 
are quick, the inagination keen and alert, the mood nature sensitive, 
responsive, and intense. The ordered and balanced expression in 
great music of all the teeming thoughts and feelings that flood the 
adolescent mind may well prevent ill-ordered and violent expressions 
of them in less desirable channels. Also, if we are to have in our 
adult population a body of intelligent and discriminating music 
lovers, there must be good courses in music in our high schools. The 
work done in the eight j T ears below will fail and die if progressive in- 
terest is not maintained throughout the four succeeding years of high- 
school life. Again, the work in the elementary schools, even if it 
were not lost, would not connect with the advanced musical interests 
and activities of a community. To paraphrase Commissioner Clax- 
ton, the elementary schools complete the education of the child ; the 
high schools begin the education of the man. Applied to music, the 
elementary schools can compass the training of the ear and the mas- 
tery of elementary theory and the technic of sight singing, guarding 
the voice meanwhile. They can not do much more than this (al- 
though the way in which this is done has great directive power for 
the future) for lack of time and because of the nature and capabili- 
ties of the minds they are dealing with. 

Musical appreciation can not be taught in these early years, be- 
cause the pupils as a body do not have the knowledge of tonal and 
formal structure, biography, history, and instrumental development 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 395 

that are necessary to the true appreciation of absolute music, nor the 
background of world experience and resultant range of moods that 
are expressed in great operatic or other emotionally delineative music. 
The knowledge of form, biography, and history might be given; but 
elementary instruction and training are more appropriate and urgent 
at the time, and the advanced knowledge can be gained more appro- 
priately later. The range of moods can not be imparted, and it is 
injurious to attempt to develop them. The child should be led to 
think as a child and speak as a child— albeit, a bright and well-edu- 
cated child. But at the age of adolescence these advanced phases of 
study and development become highly appropriate, and the founda- 
tion work that should be done before they are undertaken has had 
time for its completion. 

A digression must be made here. The age at which the change 
in educational content should be made, the age at which the educa- 
tion of the man begins, is more acurately 12 years than 14; that is, it 
arrives at the completion of the sixth year in the elementary school 
rather than at the end of the eighth. Recognition of this fact by 
•educators accounts for the rapid growth in favor of the " six-three- 
three" plan, which divides the pupil's school period into six years 
for the elementary school, three years for the preparatory, or junior 
high school, and three years for the senior high schools. In the light 
of it, the present seventh and eighth grades would seem to be outside 
the reach of the above recommendations for the elementary school as 
contrasted with the high school. In reply, it may be confessed, that 
the six-three-three plan, in music as in all subjects, is right, and that 
the change in the trend of musical education would come better at 
the time it prescribes. But to make such change implies the adop- 
tion of the departmental form of administration, the congregation 
of large numbers of seventh, eighth, and ninth year pupils in central 
schools, the provision of an elaborate new equipment, and the division 
of music into several different branches, some of which should be 
elective — for surely not even the musical enthusiast will hold that 
every pupil should be required to study harmony or musical history 
and appreciation. Until these changes are made it will be necessary 
to treat the seventh and eighth grades, even if the plan is imperfect, 
as the summit of the elementary rather than the base of the secondary 
school system. 

Another observation that can be made better parenthetically here 
than elsewhere is on the buying of talking machines for work in 
musical appreciation in the elementary schools. In view of the fore- 
going arguments it would be better to spend the same amount of 
money for beautiful and appropriate music for seventh and eighth 
grades — for they need it sadly— or for supplying talking machines 



396 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

in the high schools, where their installation is urgently necessary, if 
the newly adopted courses in high-school music are to be carried out. 

It has been said that music is a comparatively late addition to the 
high-school curriculum. In San Francisco its installation in a serious 
way is very late indeed, dating only from August, 1916. Before that 
date there had been, throughout the five years preceding, some effort 
made toward inaugurating such work, but the provisions were totally 
inadequate to the task of building a broad and strong system. There 
were five high schools to be served. One teacher of high-school music 
was appointed and occupied the position for three years, beginning 
in 1910. By adopting an itinerant program this teacher was able 
to carry on chorus practice in all five schools. Certainly this work 
was worth while, and must have been effective in holding hundreds 
and thousands of girls and boys in some sort of interest in music, but 
it was far from giving music the power and prestige it should have.. 
Meanwhile another valuable activity, the good effects of which are 
yet strongly evident, was begun. The superintendent of schools in 
San Francisco, himself an accomplished musician, gathered for regu- 
lar rehearsals the players of orchestral instruments in all the high 
schools, and an excellent high-school orchestra was born. For the three 
years, coterminous with those during which the chorus work described 
was continued, the superintendent instructed and directed this or- 
chestra. This unique fact gave the work a most favorable setting, at 
the same time that it provided leadership of unusual experience and 
competence. An impetus and prestige were given to orchestra work 
which will not be lost in years. In 1913 the teacher of music re- 
signed and another was immediately appointed. The superintendent y 
at this juncture, was forced by the pressure of administrative duties 
to transfer the directorship of the orchestra to the new teacher, who 
thereafter had to cope with a still more extended field. Notwith- 
standing this, the choruses and orchestra were continued, harmony 
classes were organized and maintained, and valuable instruction in 
musical biography, history, and application was given as incidental 
to the chorus work. 

One other official effort was made to encourage the study of music, 
namely, the authorization by the board of education of the granting 
of credits to high school students for instruction received from pri- 
vate teachers outside the school. In one high school much benefit 
to many students has resulted from the operation of this plan, but 
in the other high schools very little advantage has been taken of the 
provision, and it is practically an abandoned and forgotten ruling. 
Some divergence of opinion was found even among members of the 
teaching staff, as to whether the rule was in force or had been re- 
scinded. This uncertainty is due to features of administration which 
will be mentioned later. The rule, however, is still in force. 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 397 

While the music that is provided for by official action is the main 
interest of our inquiry, it is impossible to pass by, without comment 
and praise, the instances of individual contribution that have often 
been made to the advancement of the subject. The voluntary effort 
of the superintendent of schools in conducting an orchestra for three 
years has already been mentioned. In one high school there was a 
large library of carefully written and skillfully made arrangements 
of classical pieces, for first, second, and third violins (in lieu of 
viola), and 'cello, made by the principal of that school. By such 
means, a string quartette has been maintained for many terms. In 
another school one of the regular teachers maintained an orchestra 
of student membership for two years, during which time they met 
in his own home every Sunday evening for rehearsal from 8 o'clock 
to 10. This spirit of the teachers is beautiful, but a city should not 
leave the welfare of its youth, in any particular whatsoever, so un- 
provided for that the lack calls forth, from those in position to see 
it, instant response of a self-sacrificing kind. 

The branches of music recommended for study in high schools by 
the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education of 
the National Education Association x are chorus, orchestral ensemble, 
harmony, appreciation, and the crediting toward graduation of the 
study of music applied (as voice, organ, piano, violin, or any instru- 
ment of the symphonic orchestra) under outside teachers. As a 
somewhat exceptional offering, counterpoint is recommended: and 
glee clubs and bands are also mentioned as of value in some schools 
#nd classes, conformable to certain conditions of general depart- 
mental organization. It is impossible to discuss here the fitting of 
these courses into diverse high school systems, with regard to suit- 
able proportioning of the work as to years, hours, credits, and com- 
parative emphasis. Those interested must be referred to the report 
of the committee on music itself, which would need restatement here 
almost in its entirety if full discussion were attempted. It need be 
said at present only that chorus practice, orchestral ensemble, har- 
mony, appreciation, and the crediting of outside study are the basic 
appropriate offerings in almost any city system of high schools under 
either the four-year or the six-year plan — though the distribution 
of the courses among the years would necessarily be different in the 
two types of schools. As San Francisco follows, in effect, the four- 
year-plan, that plan will be assumed in the following discussion. 

It is necessary to condense also the statements of the report with 
regard to methods and results that should be sought in each of the 
branches of musical study. 

1 For the work of this commission, see Bull,. 1917, No. 2. 



398 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

In connection with chorus practice the National Education Asso- 
ciation report recommends, in addition to purely vocal phases of 
instruction, that contributory study be made of elementary theory 
and sight singing (with less advanced groups) and of musical ap- 
preciation (with more advanced groups). To quote an additional 
paragraph entire: "An invaluable activity further is the learning 
and performing of some suitable standard choral work every semester 
by the school chorus, assisted by excellent soloists and accompanied 
by a large orchestra. No surer means can be found to place the stu- 
dent in sympathetic relation to the advanced musical interests in 
his community." 

Musical appreciation is considered, in the report, to be particu- 
larly appropriate for the third and fourth year classes, though it is 
possible to introduce it earlier, perhaps in modified form, and secure 
results of value. The course requires the employment of the player 
piano, talking machine, and chorus excerpts and the contribution of 
many solo and ensemble numbers by local musicians. Each high- 
school library must also be supplied with a generously equipped 
music section containing reference works, textbooks, musical scores, 
and books for general musical reading. A large number of com- 
posers should be studied, "in so far as the works of these masters 
engage the attention of the world to-day." The compositions studied 
"should represent all important media of expression, as piano v or- 
chestra, chorus, solo voice, solo instruments, chamber music ensem- 
bles, etc." They should also "represent all varieties of form and 
all larger forms, as the song forms, sonata form, rondo, etc., and 
the opera, oratorio, cantata, mass, etc." They should be character- 
istic of a " composer's form or style at his best and most individual 
moments." The compositions should be studied not only in their in- 
dividual features, but also " in relation to musical esthetics, with 
regard to the nature and validity of the musical ideals upon which 
they rest." The " lecture method with library reference is recom- 
mended, as textbooks of the exact kind needed are hardly to be found, 
if at all. When possible, reported concert attendance should be a 
feature of the work." 

Harmony, according to the report, may advantageously be offered 
in the first two years of high-school work, though it is certainly not 
inappropriate to the last two years, and could well be left open to 
the students of those years, especially if the more mature work in 
appreciation is not offered in the school, or if counterpoint is not 
offered. "An academic presentation of the, subject" is "heartily 
condemned." Ear training, carried to a point that involves "aural 
recognition of all the harmonic material used," melody writing, the 
harmonization of melodies (preferably original) rather than figured 
basses, harmonic analysis, and, in general, the use of harmonic mate- 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 3"89 

rial in tasteful original expression, are features of the course. The 
aim is obviously to develop artistic musical power rather than to 
stock the mind with dry and academic knowledge. 

Some brief quotations with regard to orchestra ensemble will pre- 
sent the thought of the committee to the present reader. The report 
says: "The musicianship that results from ensemble playing is more 
advanced than that which arises from ensemble singing," and en- 
larges upon the reasons for this statement. It recommends: 

First. The instruments should be played in the manner of their solo capaci- 
ties, the ideals of chamber music and the refined treatment of each part in a 
symphony orchestra being ever kept in mind. 

Second. Music should be selected that, however easy, still recognizes these 
particular values for each and every instrument. 

Third. The orchestra should be considered an orchestra class or orchestral 
study club. 

Fourth. Instruments should be bought by or for the school to remain school 
property, and these should be loaned, under proper restrictions, to students who 
will learn to play them. Instruments such as the double bass, timpani, French 
horn, oboe, bassoon (or any less rare that are yet usually lacking in any par- 
ticular school) should be bought. 

Fifth. Seventh and eighth grade orchestras, similarly conducted and equipped, 
should be organized as training schools for the high-school orchestra. 

The reasons given for recommending the inclusion of outside study 
of applied music in the high-school course may be summarized as 
follows: 

The musical proficiency gained is likely to hold richer and more 
practical value for the student in after life than he could gain by 
the same amount of time spent on an intermural study. 

Pupils constantly are constrained, where this provision is lacking, 
to abandon music entirely, at the high-school age, or else quit the 
high school. To force a student to such extremes is unreasonable. 

The assumption that a person who pursues three " regular " 
branches and one course in music every year for four years is less 
educated than one who pursues four regular branches is untenable. 

With regard to counterpoint, which is considered to be an excep- 
tional offering, to be included " only under especially favorable con- 
ditions" the most important recommendation is that it be preferably 
included under harmony, if offered at all, in either a two-year or, 
four-year course, and that it follow "the methods that seek to com- 
bine these two aspects of tonal organization, such as those of Percy 
Goetschius." 

It is obvious that all the courses above, with one exception, must 
be. treated as clectives. The exception is chorus practice. The argu- 
ments for and against making this required, on the one hand, or 
elective on the other, are set forth at length in the report. An ex- 
cellent plan with the elcctives, however, is to group them with other 



400 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

electivcs and require one year or two years, or more, to be spent on 
some selection from the group. This plan insures a degree of flexi- 
bility that will suit individual needs and yet provides for educational 
guidance. 

The credit for music is in all cases to equal, hour for hour, that 
given in other subjects, provided that work which requires no out- 
side preparation, like chorus practice with which no contributory 
study is combined, shall receive only half credit compared with 
studies which do require outside preparation. Such an evaluation, 
however, must not be applied to music only, but to all studies alike. 

VI. PRESENT METHODS AND PRACTICE IN MUSIC IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS OF 

SAN FRANCISCO. 

The brief outline of high-school music courses given at the end of 
the preceding section represents a consensus of opinion based upon 
much experience. The courses in the high schools of San Francisco, 
but a month old at the time of this survey, can hardly be analyzed 
with reference to influence and results; but a discussion of their in- 
tentions and provisions in comparison with the standard just out- 
lined will doubtless be of interest. To facilitate such discussion the 
San Francisco outline is presented here entire : 

DEPAETMENT OF MUSIC. 

First Year. 

Major elective course; Harmony: 

Major and minor scale forms; Intervals; Triads and their inversions; 
Chord relations; Seventh chords; Suspensions; Cadences; Harmonizing 
of melodies ; Original composition pertaining to this period of study. 
(Four periods per week; four credits per term.) 

Minor elective course; Musical appreciation: 

Musical history I; Composers and their works from early period to Bach, 
Handel, and Haydn ; Early church music ; Madrigals ; Simple dance 
forms ; The primitive orchestra ; Oratorio. 

( One period per week ; one credit per term. ) 

For all students: 

Sight reading; Ear training; and Chorus singing. 
An orchestra will be formed upon enrollment of an adequate number of 
players. 

Second Year. 

Major elective course; Counterpoint: 

Simple counterpoint; Figurated counterpoint; Counterpoint in quarter 
notes ; Two and three voice movements ; Double counterpoint, etc- ; 
Original composition. 

(Four periods per week; four credits per term.) 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 401 

Minor elective course ; Musical appreciation : 

Musical history II; Continuing composers and their works to 1800; Early 
opera; Development of musical forms in Italy, Germany, and France; 
Development of the orchestra. 

( One period per week ; one credit per term. ) 
For all students: 

Sight reading; Ear training; and Part singing. 
Orchestral practice. 

Third Year. 

Major elective course; Canon and fugue: 

Canon in straight movement; Canon in inversions; Canon accompanied by 
free contrapuntal parts ; Canon in three and four parts ; Fugue ; Themes ; 
Strict and free fugues ; three and four parts ; Original composition. 
( Four periods per week ; four credits per year, ) 
Minor elective course ; Musical appreciation : 

Musical history III; The Wagnerian cult; Development of the music 
drama ; Fague and sonata forms. 

(One period per week; one credit per term.) 
For all students: 

Sight reading; Ear training; and Part singing. 
Orchestral practice. 

Fourth Year. 

Major elective course ; Orchestration : 

The stringed orchestra; Wood-wind choir; Brasses; Instruments of per- 
cussion ; Contrast and color ; Notation ; Conducting. 
(Four periods per week; four credits per term.) 
Minor elective course ; Musical appreciation : 

Musical history IV ; The modern school ; The symphony orchestra ; Modern 
opera. 

( One period per week ; one credit per term. ) 
For all students: 

Sight reading ; Ear training ; and Part singing. 
Orchestral practice. 

The strength of this course is at once evident. It is impossible to 
estimate the advance in musical power that would come to San Fran- 
cisco in a term of years if the provisions and intentions of this course 
were faithfully carried out by an adequate corps of high school 
teachers of music. There would not only be the direct value compre- 
hended in the advance in musicianship on the part of the music 
students, but musical standards would be advanced all along the line, 
in school and out of school, by the silent influence of the standards 
affirmed in the public schools. The introduction of such a course into 
the San Francisco high schools marks a forward movement of capital 
importance. The interest and encouragement of the citizens should 
be extended to it in full measure, in order that greater numbers of 
students may join the classes and put forth the quality of effort that 
93815—17 2G 



402 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

only confidence begotten by an intelligent and favorable public 
opinion can inspire. 

It may bo predicted with assurance, however, that experience 
through a few years will point the way to some desirable modifica- 
tions in the present Course, not in the direction of higher, but. of 
different aims. The course, as at present planned, is special and 
technical rather than general and cultural, and it plans for the doing 
of more than can be done, unless certain values to the student are lost. 

The major elective course provides for one year in harmony, one 
year in counterpoint, one year in canon and fugue, and one year in 
orchestration. Only an academic and unfruitful knowledge of these 
technical subjects can be gained in the time given. A textbook in 
each subject could probably be covered in a year, but musical power 
is a thing of much slower growth. Development of musical power 
is dependent upon long cerebration, the nature of which is applica- 
tion of the knowledge gained to musical experience and in musical 
endeavor. That this is the result wanted in the present instance is 
evidenced by the fact that the major course specifically directs 
"original composition" — and in directing this deserves and will 
receive the delighted approval of every teacher who has had suc- 
cessful experience in such work in high schools. But to acquire in 
one year the ability to express one's self gracefully, in good taste, 
using all the diatonic and chromatic chord material and inharmonic 
elements such as organ points, suspensions, passing notes, etc., is 
impossible. The grammar of monophonic expression could be 
learned, but artistic comprehension and power could not be de- 
veloped. The same holds true of the other three years. Much 
richer results would be obtained by running a two-years' course in 
harmony, even at the expense of the fourth year's work in orches- 
tration. The remaining two years could, in such case, proceed with 
contrapuntal work, as now outlined, or, better still, be employed in 
a way to be presently explained. 

The subject of musical appreciation is much the most difficult of 
all to present to high-school students. 'The range of facts that it 
must embrace is extremely extensive and varied. A long historical 
epoch is, of necessity, examined. Within this epoch numerous com- 
posers have lived whose lives must be fairly well known to the 
students. Tonal systems that are intelligible only in the light of 
acoustical knowledge have been developed, abandoned, modified, and 
must be known to the student. National characteristics and histori- 
cal events have colored and shaped the musical results. Esthetic 
principles of design, of balance, symmetry, unity, and variety must 
be understood and appreciated. The larger esthetic of musical art 
as contrasted with other arts must be comprehended. The nature 
and capabilities of a great number of musical instruments, at dif- 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 403 

ferent stages of their development, must be known. Numerous 
musical forms must be studied and numerous examples of each be 
analyzed. Such mighty topics as classicism versus romanticism, 
and the music drama as compared with Italian opera, must be eluci- 
dated to adolescent minds. 

To take one example, the Eroica Symphony is not really appre- 
ciated until one knows who Beethoven was, when he lived, what 
manner of man he was, what the French Revolution meant, why 
individual freedom, entailing responsibility, brings on restlessness 
and a " soul struggle," what music had been before Beethoven, what 
classicism and romanticism mean, what a symphony is, what the 
sonata-allegro form is, what Beethoven's orchestra was as compared 
with Haydn's and Mozart's, etc. The subject is endless. . And in 
addition to the quantitative difficulty is the qualitative one of asking 
comprehension of Beethoven of young people whose background of 
human experience is too slight and untroubled to form a basis for 
sympathetic understanding of a struggling giant like Beethoven, 
and who can compass it only through the leap of a thoroughly stirred 
and yet carefully guarded imagination. 

At the same time, while the difficulties are great, the subject has 
interest and value for a much greater number of people than has 
harmony, which, by contrast, is technical and quasi vocational. No 
man or woman is very broadly educated or cultured who does not 
know something of the matters included under this head, and all 
can gain such knowledge despite the difficulties. On the quantita- 
tive side, then, the course in musical appreciation needs much longer 
time and on the qualitative side it appeals to a larger number. The 
conclusion is that it should be a major elective, scheduled for four 
hours a week for two years. So administered, it could advantage- 
ously displace even counterpoint, and certainly orchestration. A 
knowledge of counterpoint that would be of great value and every 
bit of which would be fruitful could then well be included under 
harmony, in a two^ears' course in contrapuntal harmony ; and, simi- 
larly, that part of the work of the orchestration class which holds 
general cultural value could be included, most appropriately and 
desirably, under appreciation. Such a plan would make wider ap- 
peal; and if we assume that wide diffusion of keenly intelligent 
musical appreciation, rather than provision of vocational training 
to the few, is the aim of high-school music courses, the plan sug- 
gested is much more desirable. At any rate the harmony course 
should be extended to cover two years, and the appreciation course 
should be strengthened by giving it four hours a week over two 
years. 

If, after this basic provision is made, a still wider range of study 
is desired, counterpoint could be added for two years, as an option 



404 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

with appreciation, following the two years in harmony. Students 
who wanted professional training rather than general musical cul- 
ture would thus find their wants provided for. Technical study of 
orchestration could also be added, as a parallel course for the fourth 
year, as an option to advanced counterpoint or appreciation; or it 
could even be added in the third year, as an option with first-year 
counterpoint. 

At the time of the survey, although the two music courses de- 
scribed above were outlined and were presumably in the first stages 
of operation, only the harmony course was making headway. There 
was practically no provision at all for the appreciation course. It 
must not be forgotten that this course requires generous equipment, 
consisting, for each high school in which the course is offered, of a 
player-piano and a library of rolls, a talking machine and a library 
of records, chorus music, a goodly list of books in the high-school 
library dealing with musical biography, history, form, and esthetics, 
and (in the library) some musical scores. The provision of such 
equipment in San Francisco is an immediate need if the course 
announced is to be really carried into effect. 

Only most fortunate results can be anticipated of the chorus and 
orchestra work. The singing in the elementary schools furnishes an 
excellent foundation for chorus work in the high schools, for it is ex- 
cellent in point of vocal practice and admirable in its enthusiastic 
spirit. The children in the elementary schools love to sing and know 
how to sing as a matter of voice management. Encouragement of 
orchestra] playing in the elementary schools, because of the com- 
paratively special and irregular nature of the work, is, in San Fran- 
cisco as it must always be everywhere, less systematic and effective 
than the encouragement given vocal practice; but it is by no means 
neglected and the general attitude toward it is favorable. Of 
course much more might be done. In fact, children and youths are so 
pliable and responsive that almost anything can be done with them. 
The only questions are those of desirable aims and provision of equip- 
ment for attainment of the aims. 

Orchestral development in high schools or grades depends upon the 
provision of special teachers and conductors, provision of orchestral 
instruments, and provision of suitable music in sufficient quantity. 
The pupils will respond anywhere and everywhere in proportion 
to these provisions. At present the high-school system of San 
Francisco is committed, it would seem by the implication of its 
high-school course of study and by its traditions and past experience 
in high -school orchestral work, to a policy of encouragement and 
promotion of orchestral playing in its high schools. Teachers it 
has provided to some extent, and, to some extent, music. Officially 
it has not provided instruments, and where these were found in the 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



405 



nigh schools they had been secured as the result of individual enthu- 
siasm and effort, and even sacrifice. Thus in one school a member of 
the faculty who is interested and trained in orchestral work bought 
last year out of his own resources two violas, two basses, two clari- 
nets, one trombone, and one horn. He was afterwards reimbursed 
for the outlay by the student body of the school. In this same school 
another member of the faculty had at an earlier period conducted 
an orchestra of 27 members for some three years. Similar examples 
of admirable professional and humanistic spirit have been com- 
mented upon earlier in this report. If the school system values the 
results so obtained, it should now, in accordance with its plan of 
work, officially undertake the activities and provisions that are neces- 
sary. Doubtless this is precisely what, as implied by the new course 
of studies, it is planning to do. 

The response of the students to the offerings of the new course of 
study impressed the visitor greatly. The new course was so late in 
announcement that students had selected their courses for the open- 
ing term on the basis of the old course, which offered no systematic 
instruction in music. It will be noted, too, that the new courses are 
yet in a formative period, and were not all operating at the time of 
the survey. Notwithstanding these adverse conditions, the following 
numbers of students, classified as to .high schools and branches of 
musical study, were found to be enrolled : 



Music in the high schools. 





Enroll- 
ment. 


Applied 
music 
(out- 
side). 


Har- 
mony. 

32 


Appre- 
ciation. 


Or- 
chestra. 


Mixed- 
voice 
chorus. 


Girls' 
chorus. 


Boys' 
chorus. 


To- 
tal. 


1 


1,200 

650 

800 

1,100 

1,300 




J3 


i 166 


50 
103 
38 


22 
""24" 


147 


2 


50 


m 7 


221 


3 ; 


14 99 


98 


4.. 




25 
70 




20 
21 


1 145 









70 


'l61 




i 








Total 


5, 050 


50 


202 




113 


1,100 


261 


46 


1,772 





1 Included in chorus. 



The significant figures are those for harmony, which represents the 
most advanced work available to students in the present state of or- 
ganization. The serious attitude of the students toward music is well 
displayed in the number of elections to this branch, despite inimical 
circumstances. It is quite justifiable, too, to assume that the largest 
numbers so electing, in proportion to the total enrollment of the 
particular schools, are more representative than the smaller numbers; 
for a large number does not in this case represent artificial stimu- 
lation, but rather a small number represents restraint in point of 
difficulties in recitation schedules, previously adopted courses, and 
other deterrent circumstances. 



40 G TIIE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

The figures for the study of music applied under outside teachers 
reveal the lack of a well-understood and completely organized plan, 
and this should be immediately taken up and provided, The diffi- 
culties are the usual ones of standardization of such work. Two so- 
lutions of this difficulty have often been attempted in districts in 
which the course was adopted, but neither has been entirely success- 
ful. One plan is to have an accredited list of music teachers, the 
other is to have an accredited list of studies, exercises, and pieces 
that are prescribed for all. The first plan is objectionable because, 
since private teachers of music are not examined and empowered by 
the State as are school teachers, the responsibility for their accredit- 
ing is thrown upon the local supervisor of music, whose self-appointed 
dictatorship is naturally resented. 

If private teaching of music could be placed under State super- 
vision, which for many reasons would be highly desirable, this first 
plan would be very satisfactory. An attempt was made some years 
ago by Dr. H. J. Stewart to secure for California such State certifi- 
cation of music teachers. There is not space here to present in its 
entirety the legislative bill which was drafted, but sections 1, 4, and 5 
are quoted following. Some provision of this sort should be adopted. 

AN ACT to provide for the registration and licensing of teachers of music in the 

State of California, providing for a State Board of Examiners in Music, 

fixing fees and compensation. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any person who is not at this time engaged 
in the teaching of music in this State to commence such teaching, unless he or 
she shall have obtained a certificate, as hereinafter provided. 

Sec 4. Within six months from the time that this act takes effect it shall 
be the duty of every person who is now engaged in the teaching of music in 
this State to cause his or her name and residence or place of business to be 
registered with said board of examiners, who shall keep a book for that pur- 
pose. The statement of every such person sball be verified under oath before 
a notary public or justice of the peace, in such manner as may be prescribed 
by the board of exaininers. Every person who shall so register with said board 
as a teacher of music shall receive a certificate to that effect, and may continue 
to practice as such without incurring any of the liabilities or penalties pro- 
vided in this act, and shall pay to the board of examiners for such registration 
a fee of $1. An annual registration fee of $1 shall be due and payable on De- 
cember first by each person so registered, and failure to pay this fee within 
thirty days shall forfeit registration. No certificate so forfeited shall be re- 
stored, except upon payment to the said board of the sum of $10 as a penalty 
for such neglect. 

It shall be the duty of the board of examiners to forward to the county clerk 
of each county in the State a certified list of the names of all persons residing 
m his county who have registered in accordance with the provisions of this 
act, and it shall be the duty of all county clerks to register such names In a 
book to be kept for that purpose. 

Sec. 5. The board of examiners shall meet twice each year, in the months 
of June and December, for the purpose of examining candidates for registra- 
tion, and said board is hereby empowered to make such rules and regulations 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCIIOOLS, 407 

as it may deem necessary for the proper conduct of such examinations. Any 
and all persons who shall so desire may appear before said board at these 
meetings and be examined with reference to their knowledge and skill in the 
art of music or any branch thereof, and if the examination of any such person 
or persons shall prove satisfactory to said board, the board of examiners shall 
issue to such persons as they shall find to possess the requisite qualifications 
a certificate to that effect, in accordance with the provisions of this act. Said 
board shall also indorse as satisfactory diplomas from any reputable chartered 
or incorporated university, college, or conservatory when satisfied of the char- 
acter of such institution upon the holder furnishing evidence satisfactory to 
the board of his or her right to the same, and shall issue certificates to that 
effect within ten days thereafter. All certificates issued by said board shall be 
signed by its officers, and such certificates shall be prima facie evidence of the 
right of the holder to practice the teaching of music in the State of California. 

Another plan which was mentioned above is to standardize the 
teaching material. The objection to this is that it restricts all teach- 
ers to an arbitrary selection of material, and the output of new mate- 
rial is so prodigious that' constant revision and extension of the list 
would be necessary. Freedom as to method, too, would be jeopar- 
dized, and factional disagreements would be sure to follow. 

A third plan, which seems to be the only one that can be imme- 
diately adopted, is to examine and accredit results rather than teach- 
ers or material. Monthly report cards are provided the teacher, and 
upon these teacher, parent, and pupil jointly report the number and 
length of lessons, the exercises and pieces assigned, the merit of the 
work done by the pupil upon this material, the number of hours per 
week devoted to practice and study, etc. The card is made out' in 
duplicate and one copy is left unsigned. At the end of the first 
month this unsigned card, which gives a full report of every phase 
of the work undertaken, is presented to a committee of musicians 
who are competent' and authoritative in the special branch reported, 
and its merit is passed upon by them. There can be no suspicion of 
personal prejudice or professional jealousy because the identity of 
neither pupil nor teacher is disclosed by the card. The judgment 
reached by the committee as to the merits of the course and the 
fidelity with which it has been studied is then transmitted by the high- 
school principal to the teacher of music. At the end of a semester 
the five monthly report cards by that time received are similarly 
submitted to a committee. If the course, which must have been ac- 
ceptable as revealed in the first monthly report, has been maintained 
at the standard shown in that report, the pupil is then examined by 
the committee in order to ascertain at first hand the progress re- 
ported. Again in the examination the identity of the pupil is not 
revealed; for only the unsigned halves of the reports are submitted, 
and in the examination the pupil is screened from the view of the 
examiners. The examination is naturally and properly based upon 
the work reported on the card forms. The judgment of the examin- 



408 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

ers is filed in writing, and is typed and transmitted to the teacher o* 
music by the clerk in the office of the high-school principal. The 
prestige of the private teacher is therefore not impaired, in case, 
minor criticisms are made — as they frequently are — and yet he is 
given every opportunity to improve the standard of his work. In 
case dishonest and quite unworthy teaching is disclosed the pupil, 
rather than the teacher, is promptly warned, and advised that he is 
not being prepared to meet the requirement's of the course. The 
plan in experience has proven to be sound. The standard of work is 
efficiently guarded, good teachers are encouraged, poor teachers are 
disqualified, and the student is stimulated to honest and faithful 
effort. 

Turning again to the table, it is seen that musical appreciation is 
as yet inoperative. The equipment for this should be* promptly pur- 
chased, and the work would then probably be begun. Again, chorus 
singing is required of all, according to the official course of study, 
but is seen to be not yet systematically practiced. In the one school 
which reports a form of practice for this feature, the pupils are 
divided into two large groups which sing in assembly, usually in the 
school yard. Such community, or assembly singing, in large groups, 
incidentally attains a valuable social aim as well as the avowedly 
musical one, and is the proper field for required chorus singing. 
More technical and advanced voice training and chorus practice 
should still be open to select numbers in elective or selective glee 
clubs and special chorus groups. Doubtless a program will soon be 
worked out for each school which will insure one or two periods of 
chorus practice per week t'o all students in the school, divided into 
groups numbering, preferably, from 200 to 500 students each. At 
present even the one school that has begun the practice is as yet' quite 
unsupplied with any music — a fact that emphasizes the formative 
stage of all the work. 

But against shortcomings which are inseparable from the forma- 
tive stage of any system must be placed several exceptionally favor- 
able considerations. One of these is the admirable spirit toward all 
the music work manifested alike b}- pupils, teachers, principals, and 
higher administrative officers. Everywhere was found a cordial at- 
titude toward music, belief in its value, willingness to cooperate in 
its behalf and, among high-school principals and high-school teachers 
of other subjects than music, a quite extraordinary degree of musical 
knowledge and endowment. The musicianship of the superintendent 
of schools has already been mentioned; and one of his associates 
has been perhaps the first and foremost worker toward securing, 
for the State of California, the adoption of music into the list of 
required branches for all the public schools in the State. 



MUSIC 1ST THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 409 

Another exceptionally favorable condition is found in the policy 
i if the University of California toward high-school credits in music. 
Great' discouragement is constantly put upon the study of music in 
high schools by the fact that colleges and universities which high- 
school students hope to enter will not accept as entrance credits high- 
school credits in music. This policy sometimes reaches an absurdly 
inconsistent point, as when a State requires music to be taught in its 
public schools and then, in its State university, refuses to accept, for 
entrance, credits in music gained in its public schools. But the 
State of California, in its university, is quite beyond criticism 
of the kind. A total maximum of nine credits which may be 
gained in a high-school group of elective subjects is accepted by the 
university. The group embraces music, manual arts, household 
economy, etc. The distribution of the nine credits among these sub- 
jects is not prescribed ; consequently the credits may all be made in 
any one of the subjects, as music. The branches of music so rated 
for credit are: (1) Sight-singing and dictation, symbols and termi- 
nology of musical notation; (2) elements of composition, harmony 
and structure; (3) instrumental or vocal technic; (4) history of 
music. Any teacher who has seen hundreds of high-school students 
turn aside from music, which they desired, to take other and unde- 
sired subjects because these others alone were " college preparatory," 
will realize fully the exceptional nature of the encouragement given 
to high school music students in San Francisco by this ruling on the 
part of the State university. The bearing of these regulations upon 
the applied music course in the high schools is especially com- 
mendable. 

A condition peouliarly favorable to the work of the musical ap- 
preciation classes in San Francisco is the presence there of not one, 
but two symphony orchestras, and the activities in the city, tradi- 
tional and present, in the realm of opera. Not only do the or- 
chestras exist, but, as an additional bit of good fortune, they seem 
to have acquired an indigenous character, to have become part and 
parcel of the democratic community spirit that exists in the city, 
and so to have acquired an intimate and friendly attitude and 
footing. During the last season an arrangement was made for ele- 
mentary-school pupils to attend, without paying any admission fee, 
final rehearsals of the San Francisco Peoples' Orchestral Associa- 
tion. The result was unsatisfactory. Attendance was not required, 
and elementary-school students, reared on short songs and not yet 
responsive to the . range of moods or the structural sublimities of 
great music, evinced a preference for staying away. This need not 
have been disappointing, but it was. In the brief for high-school 
music, some pages back, the argument for just such necessity for 



410 THE PUBLIC SCnOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

musical education that should go beyond the elementary school 
period was presented. But with numbers of students in the high 
schools in elective classes in musical appreciation, a totally different 
result might confidently be expected. 

Concert or rehearsal attendance, under some special arrangement 
with the orchestra board that would not make it burdensome upon 
the students in a monetary way, should prove most attractive, and, 
indeed, should properly be made an integral part of the class work; 
and this recent experiment is cited here as giving evidence of the 
cordial cooperation that the school authorities could unquestionably 
expect from the orchestra boards. Operatic performances could 
doubtless be attended under some similar cooperative plan. 

VII. MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC-SCHOOL SOCIAL CENTERS OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Through social centers, evening schools, and other forms of ex- 
tension work a public-school system may make "a contribution to 
the culture of the citizens over school age," as Supt. Condon, of 
Cincinnati, felicitously phrases it, that is of vast importance. Here 
again there is direct and indirect good accomplished. The direct 
good, of course, is the effect upon the members of the social-center 
group; the indirect good the effect upon the public-school system re- 
sulting from the more intimate knowledge gained of that system by 
the social-center members, their sense of benefits received, and their 
recognition of their proprietary responsibilities in relation to this 
most important institution. All of this improvement in their atti- 
tude is promptly reflected in the attitude of the children and youths 
in the day schools; for they are the children of the members of the 
social-center groups or of neighbors of the members, and notions and 
attitudes of these elders are quickly diffused in these days. 

Music is peculiarly appropriate in social-center work. It is pre- 
eminently, especially in its choral and orchestral phases, a friendly, 
a social, a cooperative art. No surer means of bringing about social 
solidarity upon a high plane can be imagined than to join the people 
of a neighborhood together in song. Nor need the social good be 
the only one attained. Musical intelligence, knowledge, and appre- 
ciation can be promoted to any extent, the only limitations being 
the degree of response from the citizens and the liberality of the 
taxpayer. Of these the second may be disregarded. If the re- 
sponse is sufficiently large and enthusiastic, funds for maintenance 
can always be secured. 

Eesponse is often made small by the inability of the better class 
of citizens to understand that a public-school system can possibly 
hold any benefits for them. The public schools are not regarded as 
institutions of higher learning, and when citizens gather in them 



MUSIC IN TIIE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 411 

die juvenile aspect of the rooms and their equipment is likely to 
imply to the adult that the course is designed to be more elementary 
than he wishes it. Only a vigorous propaganda, carried on by 
persons of discernment and high intelligence, will finally remold this 
now fixed concept and bring recognition of the fact that the public 
school is to-day prepared, or is preparing, to minister, to the most 
advanced and diverse educational interests of its most advanced citi- 
zens; that it does not belong to the unenlightened classes exclusively, 
but is of use to all; and that "social-center" work carries no im- 
plication necessarily of uplift of the submerged classes, but provides 
equally an opportunity for the play of the most advanced interests 
held by any higher class. Nor can the board of education carry on 
this propaganda. They can open the schoolhouse doors and make 
provision according to the demands put upon them, but the interest, 
the demand, the promotive energy must come from the citizens 
themselves. 

In the " Eules for the Establishment and Operation of? Neighbor- 
hood Centers in the Public-School Buildings of San Francisco" 
provision is made for music centers. What will be done in these 
centers will be determined by just the influences and factors described 
in the preceding paragraph. 

Exceptional agencies appear to be at hand in San Francisco for 
promoting a most desirable sort of work in these music centers. 
These agencies are clubs dedicated to city welfare work, some of 
which have already been active in encouraging the organization of 
■choruses that it was proposed should meet in school buildings or 
under some sort of public control. If these organizations will take 
new heart from the opportunity now provided, will encourage the 
organizations of choruses and orchestras, and will enlist the interest 
and cooperation of conductors and teachers, a good work should soon 
be well begun. It will succeed best ultimately if this criterion is 
established: Try to promote the organization of groups in which you 
yourself as member would find pleasure and benefit. It is quite true 
that groups of all grades of ability must be formed, but the forma- 
tion of each grade will be properly effected only by those whose 
personal interest is engaged by the work of that grade ? and at present 
only the higher grade knows what its interests are, is enlightened as 
to its opportunity, and is informed as to possible steps of procedure. 
Therefore it must lead the way; it can not proceed so well by pre- 
cept as by example. We have little joy or enthusiasm in urging 
others to activities that seem quite unattractive to us. We are likely 
to appear patronizing, however sincere and altruistic our feeling, and 
our words lack the final ring of earnest conviction. 



412 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

What may be done in the music centers is this: 

In most neighborhoods in which a neighborhood center is estab- 
lished there are probably hundreds of men and women who are inter 
ested in music, know something of its notation, and who have either 
had some experience in singing or playing or would welcome such 
experience. Some sing, or have sung, in choirs and choruses. Many 
engaged in choirs would enjoy an evening spent in singing secular 
choruses ; many who have resigned from choirs would gladly rehearse 
one evening a week when they would not feel that they could give 
time on Sundays to the more exacting demands of choir work; ex- 
members of choral societies have found that the trip down town to 
rehearsals was a tax which they could ill afford to pay. All these 
and many more are likely to be interested in a neighborhood chorus, 
especially if after organization those of equal ability were separately 
organized and different grades of work were projected. 

Orchestras could be similarly formed ; sight-singing classes should 
be numerous; lecture recitals could be given; musical study clubs 
could be organized; and appreciation classes formed. Teachers in 
the elementary schools could meet for instruction in music that would 
be of especial benefit to them, and harmony classes, in some instances, 
might be organized. 

Most of these activities have probably been tried at some time, for 
a shorter or longer period, in San Francisco. The report of groups 
and attendance in social centers for 1915-16 records singing in one 
school by a group of 20 girls one evening each week. Information 
is also at hand of lectures in music that were given in public-school 
buildings in the evenings during one season and were well attended. 
Also, in connection with the evening schools, an orchestra of 18 
members rehearsed twice a week in one school under the direction of 
the principal. It would seem that the agencies are now at hand 
for making these sporadic activities regular and systematic and 
vastly increasing their reach. The immediate effort should be to 
establish a music center, devoted to some branch of musical practice, 
in every neighborhood center opened. 

The plan adopted in Pittsburgh holds many values and may well 
be cited here. In the Pittsburgh public-school sj^stem a department of 
special schools and extension work is charged with the direction of all 
evening schools and social centers as well as some special type schools. 
Social center groups under this plan are groups which are self- 
directing and self-supporting, though under the supervision of the 
department. Rooms, light, heat, and janitor service, and some con- 
tribution in the form of lectures are the total provision by the board 
of education. 

Evening school groups, on the other hand, are furnished all the 
foregoing and, in addition, all textbooks and supplies needed and 






MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 413 

instructors. A building is opened for social center activities upon the 
request of 100 or more citizens. An evening school is opened upon 
the request of 200 or more citizens. Pupils in the day schools are 
not eligible except for branches not taught in the day schools, and 
persons under 14 yenrs of age are not eligible. 

Upon opening a school the various subjects which may be elected 
are named and those present then enroll for the subject that inter- 
ests them most. Twenty or more constitute a class, for which instruc- 
tion and all equipment will be provided. For chorus 30 or more 
must enroll if an accompanist, in addition to the conductor, is to be 
provided, for the accompanist is classified as assistant instructor, 
and an assistant instructor is not provided for a class of fewer than 
30 members. Practically all'of the Pittsburgh groups are choruses, 
and all are under evening school rather than social center classifica- 
tion. The director of music consequently has supervision of the work, 
selects the conductors, authorizes the purchase of all music and 
supplies, and can aid in the maintenance of certain standards of 
work. The principal of the evening school aids in recruiting and 
maintaining the chorus membership, and in securing for the group 
pleasant accommodations and conditions. 

The best plan for recruiting chorus membership under this system 
has been found to be the following: From a comparatively small 
number of persons vitally interested in the organization of a chorus 
in their neighborhood the principal obtains a mailing }ist of ac- 
quaintances of theirs who are likely to become members. To those on 
the list announcements of meetings and invitations to membership 
are sent. General announcements, in comparison with this plan, 
brought little result, and personal invitation by members of the 
chorus could not be relied upon. In San Francisco there is no provi- 
sion for such action on the part of the school officers and the organi- 
zations referred to above that must conduct most of the promotive 
work could not do better than to take over this feature of announce- 
ment and invitation by mail. Again, in Pittsburgh all music is 
bought by the board of education and is returned at the end of each 
season. There is now a large library of music, and this is circulated 
on requisition from the chorus conductors among the groups. In San 
Francisco, where music is not provided by the school system, the cost 
of music to members might prove deterrent to many persons who 
might otherwise wish to join; or, if they did purchase music, the 
work might be seriously hampered by the constant effort at economy. 
Therefore, if any library of music is available that would supply the 
chorus even in small part, or if outside funds could be raised to pro- 
vide such a library, the results from such contribution would amply 
repay the donors. 



414 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

VIII. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC 

The foregoing sections have been largely devoted to a review of 
courses of study in music and methods and practices of teaching it 
in San Francisco and in general. At times features of practice found 
in San Francisco were held to be open to criticism, and such criticism 
was accordingly made. In many such cases, however, the fault was 
ascribed to unfortunate features of organization and administrative 
operation. It is to these features that we now turn. 

The most astounding aspect of the work in music that was met 
with in the survey was the dearth of music textbooks and songbooks 
in the elementary schools. In no single room visited was there a 
book for each individual student. If. there were enough copies of 
the one book uniformly assigned to a grade to supply the class. by 
seating some of the children in pairs, the situation was deemed to be 
normal and as satisfactory as could be hoped for. The books used 
are, at best, greatly lacking in good song material, and this, added 
to the shortage in the supply, has naturally led to an unheard of 
amount of mimeographing of songs, placing songs on the blackboard* 
and teaching songs by rote. 

Ail these methods lead inevitably to the inaccuracy, improvisation 
dependence upon memory, neglect of part singing, and finally the 
impairment of technical power described in an earlier chapter. The 
loss in morale, too, that results from treating a subject so slightingly, 
is a serious one. Only the natural love of music common to the 
people of San Francisco and a professional fidelity among teachers 
and supervisors that could not normally be expected have saved the 
situation from utter impotence. A further loss is that of the time 
of the music supervisors. That they should be put to arranging and 
copying songs, even with such assistance as has been granted, when 
strong constructive field work from them would yield so much greater 
value, is a serious practical blunder. 

The cause for this miserly provision of books was difficult to 
ascertain. The State law is decidedly weak on this subject, for it 
requires music to be taught provided that study "may be oraL" and 
no textbook "shall be required." , Lacking a State requirement, 
action devolves upon local authorities. The local authorities un- 
questionably have power to purchase and put into use such music 
books as they may deem desirable, but the apportionment of funds 
by the. San Francisco board of supervisors determines the total 
amount of expenditure for school purposes and consequently the 
proportion of expense for music books. It is hardly probable that 
San Francisco has not enough money to provide her school children 
with what practically every other city in the country provides, but 
the responsibility for such expenditure has not yet been definitely 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 415 

accepted by any- official authorized to make it. This condition should 
be promptly remedied. 

The elementary schools of - San Francisco should bo promptly 
provided with music books as follows: 

1. A basic text, rich in song material, one book for each pupil in 

second to eighth grades, inclusive. 

2. A desk copy of each of at least two rote song books for each 

teacher of first or second grade classes. 

3. A set (40 to 50 copies) in each elementary school maintaining 

grades hereinafter mentioned of a book for supplementary 
singing for use in third and fourth grades. 

4. A provision identical with that of item 3, except that the books 

should be suitable for us'e in fifth and sixth grades. 

5. A similar provision of books suitable for use in seventh and 

eighth grades. 

Items 1 and 5 of the foregoing are the most urgent. No progress 
need be looked for until they are favorably acted upon. 

In addition to the books so recommended, a budget item of some 
few hundred dollars should be allowed annually for the purchase of 
octave sheet music for use in connection with special school functions, 
or public programs, and for the purchase of orchestra music for the 
elementary school orchestras. 

A recent rule of the board of education prohibits choruses of 
school children from participation in public programs. Such par- 
ticipation musf, it is true, be guarded against abuse and an excess 
of demands that would disorganize the scholastic routine and impose 
a tax upon the strength of children and teachers. To prohibit such 
participation absolutely, however, is to fall into opposite errors. 
It is impossible to rise, in the insulated confines of the school room, 
to so keen a sense of defects in technique or so sensitive a percep- 
tion of artistic effects as arises quite naturally in the more highly- 
charged atmosphere of a public performance. Discipline and self- 
control are also developed by the routine of public performance. On 
such occasions, too, the child comes in contact with the purposes 
and modes of action of the world of adults, and, if the practice is 
properly guarded, with meetings of some importance and civic sig- 
nificance. He may comprehend little of the meaning of such an oc- 
casion at the time, but it will be rich with meaning in the future — 
certainly richer than though he had stayed away. The school, too, 
is brought to the doors of the people by such participation, and 
a desirable intimacy between citizens and school system is fostered. 
All that is necessary in order to conserve these values and avoid 
onerous impositions is a limitation of participation to affairs of gen- 
eral public interest, or such as are promotive of the general public 



416 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

welfare, in distinction to occasions that are in the interests of some 
separate sect, church, society, club, or group. 

Instruction in music is conducted in the elementary schools of 
San Francisco by a corps of teachers organized as follows: 

There is a head supervisor and one assistant supervisor, who be- 
tween them supervise the field at large. In separate schools there 
are next some 5o special teachers of music, each teaching music 
to all or to a number of the classes in her one school. Some 35 of 
these special teachers have passed special examinations in music, 
and in recognition of this addition to their qualifications as regular 
grade teachers, and of the semispecial nature of their work, they 
are paid $5 per month in excess of the salary that they would re- 
ceive as regular teachers. The remaining 20 of the 55 special teach- 
ers perform the same sort of work as the 35, but because they have 
not taken the special music examinations they receive no increase 
in salary. Next in order is a very large number of semispecial 
teachers, each teaching the music in some two or more rooms of 
her school. The remaining rooms in the system are taught by the 
regular grade teachers in charge. 

The head supervisor visits every school once each year. The as- 
sistant supervisor has no regular schedule, but follows a program of 
visits dictated by the needs of the situation and directed by the head 
supervisor. Four times each }^ear the group of special teachers of 
music meets with the head supervisor for instruction and consultation. 
All newly appointed grade teachers are also called in to a meeting 
with the head supervisor at the beginning of each fall term to receive 
instruction in the course. This same group of newly appointed 
teachers is subsequently divided into two groups, the one consisting 
of teachers in grades one to four, the other of teachers in grades five 
to eight, and each of these subgroups meets with the head super- 
visor four times per year. All the teachers of each grade in turn are 
invited to a meeting each fall with the head supervisor, and a similar 
meeting by grades in February is mandatory. Further, any teacher 
may, if it is judged advisable, be summoned to a meeting with the 
head supervisor at any time, and the principals of the various schools 
advise the head supervisor as to what teachers need the additional 
instruction of these meetings. A series of five or six lectures on 
general questions of music pedagogy is given annually by the head 
supervisor, and to these lectures all teachers are invited. Lastly, 
teachers may obtain a meeting at any time with the head supervisor 
or assistant supervisor by making such request of the head supervisor. 

So far as meetings are concerned this plan is admirable. The 
meetings are sufficient in number and are excellently devised in point 
of classification of the members of the teaching staff. But instruc- 
tion in meetings, like all normal instruction, can never fill the place 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 417 

of direct supervision in the schoolroom. More supervisors of music 
are needed in San Francisco. The plan of having special teachers 
to do this departmental work has value and has proven, under the 
conditions, to have saving power; but an objection to the plan is that 
it decentralizes administrative control and makes it indirect. If it 
were made complete by the appointment in every elementary school 
in San Francisco of a special teacher, to whom all the teaching in 
music would be assigned and who would be directly responsible to 
the head supervisor, the situation would be improved. The difficulty 
of unifying and standardizing such work by means of infrequent 
visits from two supervisors would still be great, but much more com- 
plete centralization of direction could bo obtained from meetings 
attended by this select corps than from meetings of the larger bodies 
of teachers, such as are now held. It would be still better, however, 
to increase the supervisory corps. There should be a number of 
supervisors appointed sufficient to provide for a supervisory visit to 
each and every elementary schoolroom in the city at least once each 
month, upon an average estimate of not more than 12 rooms per 
day. This is not in excess of the provision made in most large cities 
which undertake to do anything approaching successful work in 
music. The question of continuing special teachers in the separate 
schools to do such departmental work as is now done would remain 
open, to be settled without reference to the number of supervisors. 

The corps of high-schcol teachers of music is reasonably large in 
proportion to the present stage of development of the work, but it is 
not large enough to promote in full measure all possible further de- 
velopment. Experience has proven elsewhere, and will doubtless 
very soon prove in San Francisco, that the musical possibilities in a 
high school are never fully drawn out until a teacher of music is 
assigned on full time to each school. There are now three teachers 
engaged for high-school work, and the three teach in five high schools. 
The feature of itinerancy limits the number of students in music to 
those whose daily programs do not conflict with it at the hours when 
it is offered. The teacher of music is not on the ground to hold 
conferences with students and advise them as to hours and courses 
suited to their needs and capacities. Occasions arise from day to 
day that offer opportunity for the cooperation of the music depart- 
ment were its assistance available. Of such nature arc assemblies 
for special lectures, exercises for the observance of holidays or in 
commemoration of important events, meetings for the promotion of 
athletics, programs by the English department, and many others. 
The high-school orchestra and chorus can give valuable assistance on 
these occasions if they are not fugitive and almost unknown organi- 
zations in the school. The musical appreciation classes can give 
93Slo— 17 27 



418 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

interesting programs in chapel; the harmony students, in cooperation 
with the English classes, can write class songs and school songs, and 
select, arrange, or compose incidental music for plays and other 
school programs. In cooperating in such ways the department of 
music soon comes to be indispensable in the school and attracts the 
notice of all students. The result is that the measure of musical 
interest and capability that is common to all youth is awakened and 
given its proper chance for development. 

For two reasons no comment was made in the preceding section 
upon present methods and practice in the various branches of music 
in the high schools. The forms of practice were in a formative stage, 
and the features of practice that were most open to question either 
could be explained as due to this newness or else owed their origin 
to administrative shortcomings that should be discussed in this pres- 
ent chapter. For instance, in instruction in harmony the methods of 
the teachers differed greatly, and classes that began the study at the 
same time were in widely different stages of advancement after a few 
weeks had passed. The difference was qualitative rather than quan- 
titative, and resulted from the comparative emphasis put upon vari- 
ous features of study and individual musical development, such as 
melody writing, ear training, exhaustive work with a few trials or 
a smaller amount of work with a larger array of chords, and count- 
less other phases of work. In part the diversity must be explained 
as due to the diverse facilities for organization of the classes offered 
by the different types of schools ; the inequalities in capability shown 
by the students, and resulting from the fact that all students, of 
whatever year in the high schools, were quite rightly admitted to 
the beginning classes in this first term of presentation of the subject ; 
and the difference in the number of students in one class as compared 
with another. But over and above these causes there was yet di- 
versity; and while this diversity, working cumulatively throughout 
the course, might yet lead to no serious difference in the general 
musical power developed in the students, it is yet open to this objec- 
tion, that students under such conditions could not transfer from one 
high school to another in San Francisco and pick up the work in 
harmony where they left it. Standardization of the course is neces- 
sary. Conditions such as these will also obtain in musical appre- 
ciation when that course is fairly begun and similarly, to a small 
degree, in chorus and orchestra work, until the administrative system 
is better constituted. 

The truth is that there is not a department of music in the Ban 
Francisco public schools. In the elementary schools there is a degree 
of organization and standardization that justifies the term for that 
division, but in the high schools there is not, and in the two divisions 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 419 

combined, which should stand solid and symmetrical as one system, 
therv, is not. There is as yet no head teacher of music in the high 
schools, no plan for meetings of the teachers of music together, no 
one among them authorized to call such meetings, no plan of articu- 
lation and coordination with the work in the elementary schools, and 
no one authorized to formulate and put into operation such a plan. 
This lack of centralization of authority and dearth of cooperation 
infallibly leads to the diversity noted above; and it will, despite the 
most devoted and competent individual effort, lead to confusion and 
serious lack of efficiency. As there is no one officially placed in direct 
and authoritative control, division of authority follows. The con- 
fusion existing with regard to the status of the plan for crediting 
outside music has already been noted. Such confusion is inevitable 
when one teacher of music in high schools may be explicitly informed 
(as was the case) by one in authority over her, that the practice had 
been unsatisfactory and was therefore discontinued, while the other 
teachers were either not given any information or were informed to 
the contrary. 

In personal conferences and in a, joint conference attended by the 
•upervisors of music in the elementary schools, the high-school teach- 
ers of music and the survey member whose field was the department 
of music, it developed that diverse and sometimes contradictory in- 
■tructions were being followed that had been given to individuals 
of the corps by individuals in higher authority solely upon their in- 
dividual initiative and without the substantiation of concerted and 
official action. These instructions were naturally accepted as authori- 
tative and were obeyed with the result that the confusion described 
resulted. 

In a well-organized system of public-school music there must be 
the closest articulation and coordination of the elementary, high 
school, and evening school divisions. The course of study in the 
elementary schools must be known to the teachers of music in the 
high schools; the course in the high schools must be thoroughly 
known to the supervisors in the elementary schools. The elementary 
course must lead, by gradual steps and without perceptible break, 
into the work of the high schools, which, in turn, must scan the 
foundation laid in the elementary schools and build solidly upon it. 
Tn time the product of these divisions will constitute the human 
material of the evening school and social-center groups, and the activ- 
ities there must be such as are appropriate in the light of such gen- 
esis. Particularly between elementary schools and high schools must 
the articulation be close. In a well-formed system the teachers and 
supervisors of eighth grade classes will classify the students as to 
their various musical capacities, will make record of their findings, 
and will transmit this record to the teachers of music in those high 



420 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FKAX CISCO. 

schools to which the students are promoted. There will be a list qf 
pupils who arc especially interested in the study of singing or the 
study of some instrument, who are specializing to a marked degree 
in such study, and who should consequently enroll in the " outside " 
applied music courses. There will be a list of pupils who enjoy 
chorus singing thoroughly, but who are not specializing to any 
marked degree in music. The voices of these will be classified as to 
register and described briefly, and any of unusual promise will be 
especially mentioned. In this number — the largest that will be pro- 
motcd — will be some pupils whose musical endowment is exceptional 
but who arc undeveloped in point of musical knowledge and power. 
These will be named as deserving of special attention and enrollment 
later, perhaps, in the harmony or appreciation classes. Those who 
should enter the high-school orchestras will be similar!}' listed, and 
specification of the instrument played and of each pupil's grade of 
ability will be made. Pupils who desire to attain general musical 
intelligence and culture as a phase of education indispensable to the 
well-educated ma^n or woman will be listed for the appreciation 
classes. Those who have a gift for composition, a vocational aim in 
music, or merely an acute mind that interests itself readily in techni- 
cal and structural phases of music, will be directed into the courses 
in harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration. Any body of high- 
school students will exhibit all phases of musical interest. Any 
body of high-school students likewise needs guidance, especially at 
the period of entrance into the high school. But it is at just this point 
that the students arc unknown to the high-school teacher of music, 
who must accordingly be guided by means of the reports handed on 
by the eighth -grade teachers and supervisors. 

Systcmatization and coordination of work in the three divisions 
of the public-school system can take place only through centraliza- 
tion of supervision and authority. There should be a directing and 
controlling force that should have for its purview the whole field of 
public instruction in music, from the kindergarten to the last step in 
high schools, evening schools, and social centers, and which should, 
beyond this, stand in favorable and dignified relation to the musi- 
cians in the city, in order to link up public instruction in music with 
the advanced musical interests of the community, interpreting each 
to the other and welding the whole into a community of thought and 
interest. Such a directing force must be informed as to modern 
methods, material, and practice in teaching music in each and every 
grade from the kindergarten to the eighth grade, inclusive; in 
teaching harmony and other theory classes, appreciation classes, 
choruses, orchestras, and "applied-music" groups in high schools; 
and in conducting choral, orchestral, and other classes in evening 
schools. Knowledge of pedagogy, voice, orchestra, and musical 



MUSIC IN TIIE PUBLIC SCnOOLS. 421 

theory are the requisites, together with the most important one of 
all, intimate and practical knowledge of music in the schoolroom. 
The simplest and most efficacious way of providing this directing 
force is to appoint a director of music for the public schools of San 
Francisco, and such a director, if appointed, should then be given 
ample liberty and ample support, be freed from interference, except 
such as might come in the form of necessary official control, and 
be held responsible for results because of the power and freedom 
bestowed. 

IX. GENERAL VIEW, 

Consideration of San Francisco as a setting for a system of public 
instruction in music brings forth some interesting reflections. Here 
is a city that supports two symphony orchestras; that has a history of 
operatic performances at popular prices unequaled probably by any 
other city in the United States; and that has a club dedicated to the 
development of artistic activities, which especially fosters the creative 
impulse in respect to all forms of artistic production, and which an- 
nually gives a dramatic and musical production of the highest artistic 
merit that is the original work of its members. 

The project for establishing in San Francisco a California State 
School of Opera is another evidence of the esthetic interests that 
spring from the very air and soil in California. A brochure by Mr. 
B. P. Miller has the following to say on the subject : 

If California is ever to have opera as Europe has it, it must be homemade. 
So long as we have to import companies from far away, opera can be no more 
than a brief and occasional luxury. 

In Latin countries, in Germany, and Australia, music is not merely made for 
the people; it is made by the people. Chorus and instrumentalists, even the 
soloists and directors, belong for the most part to the town or Province for 
which they make music. 

We in California are ultramontanes ; we are cut off from the East by the 
mountains; we are remote from the great centers of culture. We must work 
out our own musical salvation. The establishment in San Francisco of a 
school of opera, adequate in scope, of the highest rank in its ideals and teachers, 
and generous in its aims and methods is a capital factor in our esthetic growth. 

The city, then, pessibly by virtue of the ancestry of the people, its 
history, its climate, and its geographical position, has a life that moves 
largely on planes of imagination, sensibility', and idealistic endeavor — 
which is to say, on artistic planes. In this city is a public-school sys- 
tem the teaching staff of which, as may be expected, catches up and 
emphasizes the salient characteristics of the city at large. The mem- 
bers of the music corps are devoted to the cause of music, enthusiastic 
in their faith in its value as a subject for study in public schools, are 
lavish in their expenditure of time and energy in its behalf, and are 
trained and capable in their duties. The methods pursued, while 



422 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAtf FRANCISCO. 

open in such details as have been discussed to some criticism, are not 
by any means so wrong as to cause basic shortcomings or general 
failure. Outside of the music group we have found that from ele- 
mentary school teacher to the superintendent there is displayed a 
degree of musical endowment, knowledge, and interest that is quite 
unusual in a corps of teachers. We have seen this interest and abil- 
ity manifest its soundness and fineness by making many unofficial 
contributions to the encouragement and furtherance of various phases 
of musical instruction in the schools. We have seen that the State 
university gives unusual encouragement to the study. We have 
found many of what may be termed community welfare organiza- 
tions interested in music and ready to assist in any developing move- 
ment. In fact, there was no dissenting voice, no question as to the 
value of the subject or the validity of its claims to attention, either 
from persons within the school system or without. 

We must add to these favorable conditions one or two more. The 
preparation for teaching music which the average normal school in 
the United States gives to its students is so meager as to be almost 
worthless. No other problem connected with the advancement of 
instruction in music in our public schools is quite so disheartening. 
In San Francisco, however, every reasonable endeavor is made by 
the State normal school to prepare its graduates for successful teach- 
ing in music as in other branches. In addition, the head supervisor 
of music in the elementary schools of San Francisco receives a report 
from the normal school of the musical ability of every student from 
that institution who enters the San Francisco school system as a 
teacher; and the board of education of San Francisco is firm in main- 
taining music in the list of subjects which an applicant must have 
studied to be eligible for appointment. 

A further advance for the entire State was foreshadowed, during 
the period of the musical survey in San Francisco, by the action of 
the California superintendents' convention, in session at Lake Tahoe. 
In the meetings of that organization a resolution was introduced and 
unanimously adopted, the text of which is as follows: 

Resolved: That the normal schools and the universities of the State be urged 
to make better provision for training elementary and high school teachers of 
music. 

Under date of November 16, the executive secretary of the Cal- 
ifornia Teachers' Association writes in comment upon this motion : 
" Since the passage of this resolution there have been similar reso- 
lutions passed by various county institutes and other educational or- 
ganizations in the State. It is evidently the intent to improve this 
matter of music at once." 

In the light of these conditions one would be justified in turning 
to the department of music in the public-school system with only 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 423 

the most glowing expectations. Every element, it would seem, that 
is necessary to the making of an exceptional department of music is 
present. Why, then, with the elements present, is the ideal depart- 
ment not realized? 

The one comprehensive answer is that these many members are 
Qot yet one body. In a word, the forces and capabilities that are in 
the school system and in the city outside of the school system have 
aot yet been consolidated and organized. In consequence we find 
vagueness of general aim along with much clarity of individual aim, 
a measure of weakness in total accomplishment along with much 
efficiency in individual and partial accomplishment, a feeling of being 
baffled in progress along with an ardent desire to make progress. 
Organization is needed — organization of the school department that 
shall then be supported by the well-informed and systematic interest 
of the community. The city must seek through its department of 
music in the public schools to develop a civic consciousness musically. 

X. SUMMARY OF COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

1. The system of music in the elementary schools of San Fran- 
cisco implies greater regard for music as vocal expression than for 
music as aural impression. Most of the undesirable features of prac- 
tice that were observed would be eliminated by the recasting of 
thought which would come from acceptance of the principle that 
music is essentially something to receive through the ear rather than 
to express through the voice. 

2. The vocal practice of the children is in the main most admirable. 
The quality of such songs as are provided is excellent. The highest 
musical standards are maintained in this provision. 

3. The segregation of boys from girls for part-singing, and the 
assignment of boys to a low-voice part is a mistake. It is the only 
serious mistake that is entirely within the control of the music de- 
partment. 

4. The treatment of changing voices in upper grades is bad. The 
meager quantity and unavoidably inappropriate quality of the music 
provided for these grades is largely the cause of this failure. 

5. In general, part-singing is comparatively undeveloped or poorly 
treated. Dearth of material and a desire to secure great spon- 
taneity in singing are equally the causes, together with the segrega- 
tion of boys from girls mentioned in a preceding paragraph. 

6. Monotones are very competently instructed and cured. 

7. Sight-singing is only fair. The material provided exploits a 
method that is incongruous with the principles and aims of the de- 
partment (which are better) and the whole system is therefore 
divided against itself. 



424 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 

8. Theoretical knowledge is quite thorough and general. 
0. The spirit in the singing, both as to its musical and social as- 
pects, and on the part of both pupils and teachers, is beautiful. 

10. There is wise recognition of the worth of the musical inheri- 
tance that foreign children possess, and this inheritance is made to 
contribute to their development as American citizens. 

11. The development of patriotism, National and State, which is 
effected by the singing of patriotic songs, is an incidental feature of 
value, especially in a cosmopolitan city like San Francisco. 

12. Broadly speaking, the system of practice in the elementary 
schools tends to the attainment of general social and humanistic ends 
rather than to the development of specific musical culture and ap- 
preciation. 

13. The time given to music in the elementary schools is insuffi- 
cient. San Francisco gives GO minutes per week. This is below the 
average of practice in the United States. A minimum of 75 minutes 
per week at least should be given. 

14. The greatest shortcomings arise from conditions that lie par- 
tially or wholly outside of the sphere of departmental authority: 

(a) Orchestral playing receives academic approbation but no ma- 
terial and systematic official support. 

(b) The children in the elementary schools are on a starvation 
diet with regard to the quantity of musical material provided them; 
a large provision of musical material for the elementary schools is a 
plain and urgent duty. 

(c) The corps of supervisors in the elementary schools is insuffi- 
cient in numbers. The number of supervisors should be increased to 
a point that would insure the visit of a supervisor once a month to 
every elementary schoolroom in the city. 

(d) There is division of authority in the overhead control of the 
department of music. Individual members of the board of educa- 
tion or of the superintendent's staff should not issue instructions or 
seek to modify practices in the department of music unless action to 
such effect has been taken in a regular meeting and in an official man- 
ner. Instructions in such case should bo issued from headquarters, 
as an officially authorized proceeding. The board of education, to 
protect itself and the work of the department, should itself issue a 
notice that only such deliberate official action, regularly taken and 
officially announced, shall be recognized as authoritative. 

15. The adoption of the new course in music for the high schools 
is a most fortunate step. The course is probably too ambitious, but 
will rapidly find its level in accordance with the teachings of ex- 
perience. 

1G. Much equipment for the musical appreciation classes should be 
provided. 



MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 425 

17. Close watch should be kept upon the development of the work 
in high schools that now receive only part of the time of a teacher. 
and the probable early need for two or more teachers should be 
promptly anticipated. 

L8. The teachers of music in the high schools are not organized 
as a corps, and methods are likely to become unfortunately divergent 
in consequence. The high-school teachers should be organized within 
their own group and should then be organized in relation to the 
group of supervisors in the elementary schools. At present the two 
divisions are out of touch with each other. 

19. The same confusion as to what are official and what unofficial 
instructions that disturbs elementary school work in music disturbs, 
in like manner, the high school work. The causes and the remedy In 
both cases are the same. 

20. Orchestral playing has had an inspiring history in the San 
Francisco high schools, and given new adequate encouragement and 
support, it should soon reach quite extraordinary attainments. 

21. The crediting of the study of music under outside teachers i> 
favorably conditioned by both the interest in such study in San Fran- 
cisco, and by the attitude of the University of California toward the 
credits so gained. It is extremely unfortunate that confusion as to 
the status of the practice should have arisen. Definite official an- 
nouncement of the status of the practice should be made, and step? 
be taken to encourage what is likely to be, in San Francisco, a 
notable development of a valuable phase of school music. 

22. Music should have greater place in the evening schools, espe- 
cially in the social center work. Interest in music as a social center 
activity must be developed in the community, outside of the school 
system. The school system should be provided with funds sufficient 
ro enable it to provide instructors and music for social center groups 
^hen these are of reasonably large membership. 

23. Every worthy activity in this and all other divisions of the 
system that arises spontaneously and moves forward without official 
support (as was the case with an orchestra in an evening school during 
the past year) should be given official support. The school sys- 
tem should not only do this as a duty but should guard it as a pre- 
rogative; otherwise ill-advised or illy-guided activities, that may do 
harm rather than good and that may bring discredit upon the school 
system, may readily arise and gain a foothold. 

24. To protect the system thus, and to guide and guard the activi- 
ties, it is nccesary that the department have a responsible head. The 
appointment of a director of music whose recommendations would be 
followed would help in large measure to develop the sort of music 
system that San Francisco deserves and might easily have. The ap- 
pointment of such a director and a corps of assistants is recom- 
mended elsewhere (see p. 109). 



Chapter XL 
INSTRUCTION IN ART. 



Few communities have for the development of art the background 
afforded by California's romantic history, natural beauty, and crea- 
tive spirit. 

Indian chiefs, Spanish dons, Catholic missionaries, gold-hunting 
pioneers, merchant adventurers, trappers, lumberers, farmers, poets, 
workers and dreamers of every sort have combined to create for Cali- 
fornia a wealth of legend, story, and song of extraordinary character, 
Beauty is everywhere. From the serenity of green pastures to the 
splendor of glittering deserts ; from the loveliness of brookside flower 
beds to the solemnity of primeval forests; from the gentle glory of 
wooded hills to the thrilling grandeur of snow-clad mountains — all 
the forms and moods of beauty are displayed with an oriental prodi- 
gality. 

The creative in art has already asserted itself in California. The 
jewelry and silverware of Los Angeles, the tiles of Pasadena, the 
paintings of Santa Barbara, the bungalows and cottages of Berkeley 
and Oakland, the inns of San Bernardino and Monterey, the college 
buildings of Palo Alto, the Exposition buildings of San Diego and 
San Francisco— these are but the first fine fruits of California life, 
a life that is destined to make an expression of itself in terms of such 
beauty that a radiance as of Greece and Italy will appear some day 
beyond the mountains of the West. 

In San Francisco the physical features of the entire State are re- 
capitulated in sample. The bay with its picturesque islands and 
mountainous shores, Tamalpais, the high-piled city, the Golden 
Gate — these are some of the things that make possible an influence 
which may be directed through education to foster, to promote, and 
to bring to abundant fruitage in the arts the whole life of California. 

The art-educational ideal for the city of San Francisco that has 
gradually formed itself during this survey may be set forth in a few 
words : 

(1) Tasteful schoolrooms throughout the city, equipped with in- 
structive and stimulating material. 
426 



INSTRUCTION IN ABT. 427 

(2) Orderly courses of study, so interrelated with one another and 
to the daily life of this favored region that continuous progress is 
possible to all pupils, without loss of time or lapse of skill, from the 
lower grades throughout. 

(3) An adequate teaching force, organized for efficiency in secur- 
ing results. 

(4) Free tools and supplies for all children. 

(5) Provisions for discovering and training talent and for placing 
it where it may be of the greatest possible service to all. 

Just how closely the art-educational conditions in the city approxi- 
mate this ideal it is the purpose of the following report to indicate. 1 

I. SCHOOLROOMS AND EQUIPMENT. 

It is now widely believed that the environment of children is a 
potent factor in establishing ideals. Therefore, a first-class school- 
house is attractively designed; its yard is tastefully laid out; the 
schoolrooms exhibit a color scheme appropriate to the amount and 
quality of light received; and works of art, suitable to the grade of 
the room, are placed on the walls to produce the best possible effect. 
Such an environment for school children was found to be rare in 
San Francisco. The school grounds are seldom inviting. The walls 
of the rooms, if tinted at all, are usually a rather strong cream color. 
The shades are almost uniformly a strong crude green. The rooms 
contain no works of art furnished by the school board, and a rule of 
the board prohibiting the collection of money from the children 
makes it practically impossible for them to assist in making their 
schoolrooms attractive if they would. In some cases the principal, 
with the assistance of a mother's club or some other local organiza- 
tion, has been able to secure a few pictures, not always well framed. 
As a rule these are to be found in the office of the principal, where 
the pupils seldom if ever see them. Here and there an ambitious 
teacher has acquired some small pictures of her own. These she 
takes with her when, as frequently happens, she is transferred to 
another room. Some schoolrooms have window gardens, usually 
much neglected. Some teachers have flowers upon their desks, but 
seldom well grouped, or used to cultivate taste or skill in flower- 
arrangement. 

The schoolrooms of the city are almost a desert, so far as reference 
material is concerned. They have practically no books on drawing, 
color, design, or the history of art and craft; no charts nor exam- 
ples of fine work, not even such as drawing books furnish. 

1 This report is based upon data gathered through visits to 15S schoolrooms in 27 school 
buildings, the State normal school, two museums, and the Institute of Art, and from 33 
conferences, each with two or more people, school officials, supervisors, principals, teacher*, 
members of the chamber of commerce, and other citizens of San Francisco. 



428 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FKAXCISCO. 

The grade teachers hardly ever draw for the children, and the spe- 
cial teachers and supervisors seldom if ever make, in the presence of 
the children, finished drawings to inspire good work. The super- 
visors frequently bring charts and other reference material with them 
when giving a lesson, but such things are not allowed to remain. 

Some rooms have a few vases and other objects, purchased by the 
teacher, or given by friends, for use in object drawing, but these are 
seldom utilized as decorative furnishings for the room. The school 
board supplies practically nothing in the way of illustrative mate- 
rial for art instruction. 

Even when the work of pupils in previous years is displayed, it is 
not mounted or hung with the purpose of teaching tasteful mount- 
ing and hanging. The many opportunities to cultivate taste through 
the use of the things of the schoolroom seem to be habitually over- 
looked or neglected. 

The reference material offered so lavishly by nature — flowers of 
unique beauty, trees of rare distinction (like the eucalyptus), birds 
of brilliant plumage, insects of irridescent color — are not made use 
of so generally as they ought to be. 

The city is rich in pictures, textiles, and other objects of art from 
the Orient, and from Europe, and the amount of such valuable refer- 
ence material is constantly increasing. Much of it is crowded into 
the Golden Gate Museum where few children ever see it, while the 
schools are practically without reference material for use in art 
instruction. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

(1) The school grounds should be improved. An expert interior 
decorator should be emplo} r ed to tint properly the walls of existing 
schoolrooms, in oil color (that they may be kept clean), flat finish, of 
a hue and value of color adapted to the amount of light the room 
receives. The windows should be fitted with adjustable window 
shades of approved color. In all new buildings the proper tinting of 
the walls should be provided for in the original contract. Window 
gardens, if installed, should be kept in good condition, through the 
cooperation of the children. 

(2) In each building should be a constantly growing collection of 
work done by the children. This should include ultimately fine draw- 
ings, in outline and in color, of all the common plants in the immedi- 
ate vicinit} 7 , of the principal kinds of local trees, insects, fish, birds, 
and animals, and of the best designs that have been drawn and 
worked out, all arranged for ready reference. Such a collection 
would acquaint children with their environment, would stimulate 
both pupil and teacher to fresh endeavor each year, and enable each 
school to compete with itself and thus to make solid progress. The 



INSTRUCTION IN ART. 429 

best work each year, under every topic, should be added to the school 
collection. 

(3) The schoolrooms should be furnished with pictures appropri- 
ate to the grade of the room in the lower schools and to the subject 
of instruction in the high schools. Through the cooperation of the 
children, their parents, and their teachers, this can be done gradually, 
to the delight and benefit of all concerned. The school board should 
cooperate by framing the pictures, if not to the extent of sharing 
the initial cost. 

(4) A school library should be started in every building. For 
purposes, of art instruction it should contain reference books on 
color, drawing, design, and the history of art and craft, sets of 
standard drawing books, and current art educational publications. 

(o) Each school building should have a collection of beautiful 
things. This should include shells, insects, mounted birds and ani- 
mals, samples of wall papers, dress goods, textiles, embroideries, 
prints, posters, and beautiful objects of every kind. This collection, 
like that previously mentioned, would grow slowly but surely, 
through constant additions by the children themselves, through in- 
terested friends, through alumni associations, through local women's 
clubs and improvement societies, and through the cooperation of the 
school board. 

(6) The astonishing amount of invaluable reference material now 
stored in the various museums of the city, especially the museum 
in Golden Gate Park, should be made available for use in the schools, 

One hundred strong boxes, especially designed for the purpose, 
could easily be filled with nature specimens and works of art and 
handicraft of every sort, each box containing things in one class, 
and circulated from school to school, with comparatively little 
expense. Such exhibits would not rob the museum, would be an 
inspiration to good work in the schools, would educate the chil- 
dren in many wa} r s, open their eyes to the museum itself, and 
help to develop civic spirit. The experience of St. Louis and Chicngo 
with circulating exhibits of this nature has proved their feasibility 
and value. The museum authorities have expressed themselves as 
willing to cooperate with the school board in this matter, and 
undoubtedly the cooperation of the custodians of collections could 
be secured. 

II. COURSES OF STUDY. 

There are in the city 12 unrelated units, so far as courses in art 
instruction are concerned, as follows: 

1. The lowest-grade primary schools, 

2. The Jean Parker School. 

3. The Crocker Intermediate School. 



430 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

4. The Hamilton Intermediate School. 

5. The Horace Mann Intermediate School, 

6. The elementary schools, Grades II to VIII 

7. The High School of Commerce. 

8. The Girls' High School. 

9. The Lowell High School. 

10. The Mission High School. 

11. The Polytechnic High School. 

12. The evening schools. 

A thirteenth unit should properly be included, namely, the Lick- 
Lux-Wilmerding group of endowed schools, because they are free 
to San Francisco pupils. . 

The courses of instruction in art for these schools seem to have 
been formulated by different groups of people without relation to 
each other. The supervisor of drawing, who should naturally have 
direction of the art work in all of them, was allowed to state what 
should be taught in the elementary schools, Grades I. to VIII ; but 
that course was revised by the school board, without consultation, 
and printed for distribution with this note: "All the work in draw- 
ing for the first grade is to be exclusively by the class teacher under 
the supervision of the principal." The course of the supervisor (or 
so much of it as remains after revision by the school board) is 
administered in Grades II to VIII, except in the Jean Parker Schooi 
and in the three intermediate schools, each of which has an inde- 
pendent course of its own. 

As this school board course stands, it does not furnish a sufficiently 
detailed outline to give definite constructive guidance month by 
month to the grade teacher; nor does it make sufficiently emphatic 
the relations that should be maintained between drawing and design 
and the daily life of the pupil both in school and out 

The course for the Jean Parker School seems rather fragmentary 
and disjointed, unrelated to the other work of the school, and to the 
daily life of the pupils. 

The courses in the three intermediate schools, while new and some- 
what tentative, have the merit of being individual and vital. They 
reflect a real relationship with other school topics, and with the 
school and community life of the children. 

The published courses of the five high schools are so brief and so 
diverse that they deserve to be given in full for comparison. They 
read as follows: 

High School of Commerce. 

No instruction in drawing. 

An " interlocking system " makes it possible for a student to obtain per- 
mission "to take in any school offering it, any subject (not a 'major') not 
given in the school in which he is registered, whenever, in the judgment of 
the principals of the two schools concerned, such permission is advisable." 



INSTRUCTION IN ART. 431 

First and second year free-hand and geometrical drawing are 
possible, on this basis, during the third and fourth years in this 
school. No pupils in the Commercial High School were found 
availing themselves of this opportunity, nor is it probable that they 
will ever do so under present conditions. 

Girls' High. 1 

First year: Free-hand drawing; Clay modeling. 

Second year: Free-hand drawing — Pen and ink, charcoal; Art raetai 
work ; Leather work.. 

Third year: Sketching; Theory and application of color; Applied art* 
differentiated; Tiling. 

Fourth year : History of art and artists. 
Lowell High. 

First year: Free-hand drawing. 

Second year: Free-hand drawing. 

Third year: Geometric drawing (first year); Free-hand drawing (third 
year). 

Fourth year: Geometric drawing (second year) ; History of art. 
Mission High. 1 

First year: Drawing — Free-hand, geometric; Clay modeling (second half) 
Art metal work (second half). 

Second year: Drawing — Free-hand, geometric, pen and ink, charcoal 
Clay modeling and advanced clay modeling (half-year 
each ; Art metal work ; Wood carving ; Leather work 
Bookbinding. 

Third year: Mechanical drawing; Architectural drawing; Civil engineer'^ 
drawing; Mining drawing; Marine drawing; Color and 
wash; Applied design, differentiated; Sketching; Tiling. 

fourth year : Mechanical design ; Architectural design ; Civil-engineer's de- 
sign ; Mining design ; Marine design : Composition. 
Polytechnic High. 1 

First year : Free-hand drawing ; Clay modeling. 

Second year : Free-hand drawing, differentiated ; Geometric drawing, differ- 
entiated, pen and ink, charcoal ; Advanced clay modeling : 
Art metal work: Wood carving: Leather work; Book- 
binding. 

Third year: Mechanical drawing; Architectural drawing; Civil-engineer'h 
drawing ; Mining drawing ; Marine drawing ; Applied design, 
differentiated ; Sketching ; Tiles or pottery ; Advanced an 
metal work; Advanced wood-carving; Advanced leather 
work ; Advanced bookbinding. 

fourth yen r: Mechanical design; Architectural design; Civil-engineer's de 
sign ; Mining design ; Marine design ; Trades' art. differ- 
entiated ; Composition ; History of art and artists. 

It will be seen that all these courses are very general. The real 
character of the course can not be determined from such outlines nor 
by questioning teachers. It may be fairly judged only by the work 

4 The Girls', the Mission, and the Polytechnic offer "Home Building Plans and En 
rlronment (half-year), Interior decoration and Furnishing (half-year)." during the second 
year, nndor the " Home division " of the domestic-science coiitsph. 



432 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

of students. But little of such work was to be found. In fact, fre- 
quently under certain topics none whatever had been retained by the 
school, nor could it be discovered by inquiry. 

The evening-school courses, determined largely by the immediate 
needs of the students, are far more definite and practical. The 
courses in art instruction in the endowed schools are thoroughly in- 
terrelated with the other courses in those schools, arc orderly, vital, 
and fruitful. 

Willi the 13 diverse courses of these 13 distinct groups, each course 
so individual and in several cases so loosely formulated that it may 
become anything or nothing, according to the knowledge or ignorance 
of the unsupervised individual teacher, the steady progress of pupils 
in art instruction from grade to grade and through the high schools 
is simply impossible. x 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

7. An orderly and well-defined course of instruction should be 
formulated for all the schools of the city. This course should be al 
once rigid and flexible ; rigid enough to insure sequence in knowledge 
and progress in skill every year, and flexible enough to admit of great 
variety in the application of principles and processes on the part of 
both teacher and pupil. 

8. In view of the now well-known characteristics of the child mind, 
such a course will emphasize, during the first six years in school, the 
importance of putting the children into possession of the tools, the 
elements, and the fundamental processes of delineation. 1 

They will learn to use the pencil, the crayon and the brush, the 
ruler, the compasses, the scissors, and the knife, with ever increasing 
skill. The occasions for such activity will arise daily out of the 
Lessons in observation, language, number, and the other school topics. 
They will become familiar with all the common terms employed in 
describing the colors and form of things, and the arrangements of 
their elements. They will acquire good habits of thought in deter- 
mining directions of lines, relative proportions, shapes of areas, hues 
of color, etc., and skill in expressing themselves graphically, in or 
derly fashion. 

9. Recognizing that in general a response to esthetic relations and 
the development of appreciation is characteristic of the adolescent 
father than of the child, an orderly course will lay increasing em- ■ 
phasis in the upper grammar grades and in the intermediate and 

1 " Never again will there be such susceptibility to drill and discipline, such plasticity to 
habituation, or such ready adjustment to new conditions. It is the ago of external and 
mechanical training. Reading, writing, drawing, manual training, musical technique, 
foreign languages and their pronunciation, the manipulation of numbers and of geometrical 
elements, and many kinds of skill, have now their golden age ; and if it passes unimproved, 
ttll these can never be acquired later without a heavy handicap of disadvantage and loss." 
(From Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene. By G. Stanley Ilali.) 



IXSTBUCTION IN AKT. 433 

high schools upon exercises which deal with the elements of beauty, 
such as subtlety of proportion, refinement of line, gradation of value, 
modulation of color, and harmonious relations of parts, calculated to 
develop discrimination and taste. 

10. Eecognizing that these can not be presented abstractly, and 
that they have to be considered in dress, in house furnishing, and 
every other phase of selective art; and recognizing also that "The 
fundamental trades, such as those of the carpenter, mason, black- 
smith, wheelwright, painter, hand leather worker, shoemaker, the 
potter and the weaver, have provided immensely valuable education 
for the human race, indeed have been the chief means of raising 
barbarous peoples to a condition of approximate civilization," 1 an 
orderly course will insist upon a perpetual and vital interrelation 
between all lessons in drawing, design, and color, and the enjoy- 
ments and activities of daily t life, and the common handicrafts. An 
additional reason for this insistence lies in the fact that the modern 
commercial history of France, of England, and of Germany, has 
proved beyond the slightest possibility of doubt, that success and 
supremacy in any of the industries based on the trades depends 
primarily upon the art-educational training of workmen. 

In the high schools, therefore, an orderly course means well-defined 
groups of topics of the most practical nature. With the present plan 
in force of arbitrarily differentiate^ high schools, the groups might 
be somewhat as follows : 

Girls' High. 

Dress and household decoration, closely articulated with domestic art; 
nature drawing and decorative design (including the arrangement of 
flowers) and the appreciation of works of art. 
Lowell and Mission. 

Free-hand drawing, composition, and structural design, related to th* 
science courses, to house building and furnishing, to civic betterment 
and to the history of art. 
Commerce. 

Design and representation as related to office work, to business printing, 
commercial advertising, goods display, etc. 
Polytechnic. 

Hostume design ; interior decoration ; printing and bookbinding ; mechanical 
and architectural drawing; commercial modeling, and design for manu- 
factured objects ; the history of handicraft. 

LI. Advisory committees of business men, artisans, artists, and 
other especially interested persons should be formed to consult with 
the director of art instruction and the supervisors as to the courses 
offered ; a committee of printers and engravers for courses in print- 

*From Changes Needed in American Secondary Education. By Chas. W. Eliot, Bur. of 
ffiduc, Bui., 101G, No. 10. 
93Sir>— 17 28 



434 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYStEM OP SAN FBAXCISCO. 

ing; of architects and builders for courses in architectural drawing; 
of mechanics and engineers for courses in mechanical drawing; of 
manufacturers and merchants for courses in commercial design and 
advertising ; of home makers and housekeepers for courses in costume 
design and domestic art. Only through such cooperation are the best 
courses possible. 

12. In the evening schools opportunities for such practical instruc- 
tion as that now being offered by the Humboldt evening school should 
be greatly extended. In the recent survey of industries in Minne- 
apolis * it was found that people in the following trades all saw the 
need of instruction in one or more of such topics as mechanical draw- 
ing, free-hand drawing, lettering, color, and design, in evening con- 
tinuation schools: 



Advertising men. 
Architects. 

Carpenters. 

Cabinetmakers. 

Contractors. 

Commercial designers 

Dressmakers. 

Electricians. 

Glassworkers. 

House painters. 

Interior decorators 

Jewelers. 

Lithographers. 

Machinists. 

Masons. 



Milliners. 
, Ornamental plasterers. 
Paper hangers. 
Photographers. 
Photo-engravers. 
Plumbers. 
Printers. 
Publishers. 
Salesmen. 

Sheet-metal workers. 
Steam fitters. 
Stonecutters. 
Window trimmers. 
Wood finishers. 
Woodworkers. 



Undoubtedly representatives of these trades in San Francisco 
would agree in this matter with their fellow workers in Minneapolis 
and welcome any extension of the evening courses the board might 
be able to offer. 

III. ORGANIZATION FOR INSTRUCTION. 

The supervisor of drawing is now directly responsible for the 
character of instruction in the elementary schools, Grades II to 
VIII only, which contain about 57 per cent of the pupils of the 
city. The supervisor has but three assistants. She is allowed to 
hold one general teachers' meeting each semester for each of the 
6even grades. While attendance upon these meetings is supposed to 
be compulsory, the rule is not enforced. 

Meetings arc also held by the supervisor and assistants every 
Monday afternoon for the benefit of all grade teachers who need spe- 
cial individual help or instruction. While drawing is among the 

*Tbe Minneapolis Vocational Survey, Bur. of Labor Statistics, Vocational Education. 
Series No. 1. 



INSTRUCTION IN AST. 435 

required subjects of examination for certificates to teach in the 
schools (School Law of California, sec. 1772), this part of the law is 
practically disregarded. As a result a large percentage of the 
new teachers each year arc not qualified to teach even the most ele- 
mentary topics in drawing. Such teachers arc supposed to attend 
these Monday meetings. For one reason or another a majority of 
them do not attend. It is reported that the attendance averages 
less than 20 per cent of those who most need such instruction. 

The teachers in the other individual .groups classified in Section 
II, namely, the first grades, the Jean Parker School, the three inter- 
mediate schools, and the five high schools, receive no expert super- 
vision, hold no conferences for mutual help, seldom if ever visit one 
another's classes, and apparently know little about what is done in 
the city outside their own schoolrooms. Here and there teachers 
may be found who read, study in summer classes, or travel occa- 
sionally, or practice some form of art or craft, and try to keep in 
touch with the outside world, but the number of such teachers seems 
to be small. 

Under these conditions it is not surprising, to find the widest pos- 
sible range in the results of instruction. 

In the first grades work in illustrative drawing, paper cutting etc., 
varies, according to the teacher, from that which is very good to 
that which is of slight value. There seems to be but little drill 
upon the elementary facts, terms, and processes, without which a 
foundation for good habits in drawing can not be established. 

In the intermediate schools some good work is to be found, espe- 
cially in mechanical drawing. It has a definite aim, and is related to 
other school work. The freehand drawing in these schools is far 
from what it should be, partly because its aim is not well defined, 
and partly because of the method of teaching it ; namely, by dictation 
rather than by actual demonstration before the class. The work in 
design is weak because the pupils do not sec enough good design 
to have ideals and because the fundamental principles of design 
are not inculcated. 

While in the past as good nature drawing has been produced in some 
of the supervised elementary schools of the city as is likely to be found 
in similar schools elsewhere, at the present time hardly any of that 
grade of work is produced except in the Jean Parker School and in a 
few others where individual grade teachers have a special liking for 
nature drawing or a conviction of its value. In the supervised elemen- 
tary schools where the teacher in charge is capable, willing, and en- 
thusiastic, extraordinarily good results have been secured. In some 
exceptional cases the spontaneous story drawing, the plant drawing, 
the design (especially that applied in booklet making) and the dec- 



436 PUBLIC SCIIOOL SYSTEM of SAN fbancisco. 

orative coloring, have seldom if ever been surpassed in schools of 
similar grade. But such results are not common. Under existing 
conditions it is not surprising to find the work in these elementary 
schools as a whole far from satisfactory. The children seem to lack 
a clear perception of what they are after ; they have difficulty in ex- 
pressing themselves by means of drawing; their work in drawing 
seems unrelated to other school topics and to anything outside school. 
In other words, it does not have the vital relation to the every-day 
activities of the pupil in school and at home that it should have: 
nor is it related to the high-school courses in such a way as to be most 
helpfully preparational. It is only fair to say that these defects are 
by no means confined to the work of San Francisco children. They 
appear wherever the courses and methods of instruction lack unity of 
aim and purpose. 

In the high schools the results vary as day and night. In one the 
mechanical drawing, so far as mere technic is concerned, is above 
criticism ; in another the freehand drawing has scarcely a single good 
quality to commend it. In one the topics of instruction are admir- 
able; in another the children have been held week after week to 
unreasonable and difficult tasks. In one the design is technically excel- 
lent, but practically useless because uninfluenced by the requirements 
of manufacture ; in another not a single sheet of drawing was found 
that showed a grasp of even the first principles of representation. 

On the whole the weakest art work in the city was found where the 
strongest should appear; namely, in the high schools. With the 
exception of the work of two or three teachers it is far behind the 
best work of such schools elsewhere, and the results so far as they 
could be observed have little practical or cultural value. 

The best results of instruction in drawing and design were found 
in the endowed schools. The reasons are not far to seek. The courses 
in these schools are interrelated, the problems are vital, and the well 
trained teachers cooperate heartily with one another. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

13. For properly administering the courses of instruction in art in a 
city of the size of San Francisco there should be a complete organiza 
tion of the teaching forces somewhat as follows : 

(a) A director of art instruction, who should be held responsible 
for the courses of study in art for all schools, and who should have 
general oversight of the work of all teachers throughout the city 
who have anything to do with art instruction. 

(b) The director should have the assistance of a corps of at least 
five broadly trained efficient supervisors. These supervisors would 
constitute an advisory board, cooperating with the director in the 



INSTRUCTION IN ABT. 437 

making of courses of study for the various groups of schools, and in 
specifying required supplies for art instruction; visiting regularly 
all the schools of the city; and promoting by every possible means 
the efficiency of special, departmental, and grade teachers. 

(c) In the three intermediate schools and in "all the high and 
evening schools there should be well-trained special teachers of draw- 
ing and design, themselves able to produce the land of result re- 
quired of their pupils. 

(d) In all other buildings containing pi'pils above the sixth grade 
the departmental system should be extended to include art instruc- 
tion. In each building a departmental teacher of art could be de- 
veloped within a year from the present teaching force, especially if 
a little additional compensation were offered in recognition of in- 
creased efficiency. 

(e) Instruction in drawing in the first six years should be given by 
the grade teachers, under the oversight of the supervisors. This means 
that the law requiring adequate preparation in drawing on the part 
of those who receive teachers' certificates should be rigidly enforced, 
and that attendance upon the grade teachers' meetings, one during 
each semester, should be required by the rules of the board. 

(/) The classes for individual instruction and practice for teachers 
qow held by the director or supervisors should be continued. The at- 
tendance of grade teachers now in the employ of the city who are 
aotably inefficient in drawing should be made compulsory, and all 
others should be encouraged to attend who wish to improve their 
work or to become departmental teachers of drawing. 

[V. FREE TOOLS AND SUPPLIES. 

Notwithstanding the School Law of California, issued by the 
superintendent of public instruction, section 1G20, which specifies 
that "writing and drawing paper, pens, ink, crayons, lead pencils, 
and other necessary supplies for the use of the schools, must be fur- 
nished under the direction of the city board of education * * * 
and charges therefor must be audited and paid as other claims 
against the county school fund of their districts are audited and 
paid," the city and county of San Francisco furnish only drawing 
paper for the use of pupils. The pupils are required to buy for them- 
selves such necessary material as rulers, erasers, crayons, drawing 
inks, water colors, drawing boards, T squares, drawing instruments, 
and materials for working out any practical problem in drawing or 
design. In the annual report of the board of education for 1914-15, 
issued in typewritten form, drawing supplies were not listed in the 
table of disbursements for the year. Upon request, the department of 



438 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FBANC1SC0. 

education kindly furnished the following memorandum of the cost of 
drawing supplies for the fiscal year : 

Elementary schools (under Miss Katherine M. Ball, supervisor of 
drawing), as to <lra\ving______ . $438. 21 

High schools: 

Girls' $14.75 

Lowell 101.90 

Mission . 51. 84 

Polytechnic . 130. 62 

Commerce (omitted)—. __. . . . 



Intermediate schools: 

Crocker $40.71 

Hamilton 1G. 36 

Horace Maun . 44. 36 



299. 11 



101. 43 



Total „ . _______„___ »838. 75 

RECOMMENDATION. 

14. Provision should be made to enable the board of education to 
comply with the law. School children throughout the city should 
have equal privileges. This is possible only on the basis specified 
in the School Law of California. 

V. TALENTED CHILDREN. 

The school system of the city makes no provision for discovering, 
encouraging, and training talented children. Talented children are 
of such immense consequence to any community that a city is justi- 
fied in making special provision for them. They are quite as likely 
to appear among the poor as among the well to do. In any case they 
should be found early and nurtured persistently. They are the city's 
chief asset. 

KECOM MENDATION S. 

15. For this purpose (a) there should be hearty cooperation be- 
tween teachers and supervisors in discovering talented children;' 
(Z>) extra work should be provided and extra time set apart for such 
children; (c) special classes for such children, after school hours 
or on Saturdays, should be established in various parts of the city 
under the joint direction of the director of art instruction for the 
city and the director of the Art Institute. To make such classes 

1 This means less than 2 cents per pupil in the elementary schools, less than 7 cents 
per pupil in the intermediate schools, and less than 9 cents per pupil in the high schools 
for 1 year. 

1 Not in drawing and design only, but In music and every other useful activity. 



INSTRUCTION IN ART. 439 

possible the city should furnish rooms in certain specified school 
buildings and appropriate money for special instruction. At the 
outset the sum of $500, to be expended in the form of 100 scholar- 
ships at $5 each, would be sufficient. These scholarships should 
be awarded to pupils of the seventh and eighth grades throughout 
the city who win them through good work in drawing and design, 
and the money should be turned over by the city to the Art Institute, 
which would furnish the special instruction; (d) these pupils should 
be given credit for this work in whatever high school they may 
attend and therein be given extra time for pursuing still further 
their specialty. Certain courses in all the high schools should be 
coordinated with courses in the Art Institute in such a w r ay that 
work done in the high schools could be accredited at the Art Insti- 
tute. Four years' work in the local high school might count as the 
equivalent of the first year's work in the art school. Art-school 
scholarships for high-school students should also be established by 
the city. 

1G. In all this cooperation between the public schools and the Art 
Institute the pupils in the normal classes at the Art Institute might 
be of great service to the city if allowed to teach for practice, under 
the supervision of the director of art instruction, in the city schools. 

To secure these opportunities for talented children the trustees of 
the Art Institute have expressed themselves as ready to cooperate 
with the city in every possible way. 

conclusion. 

A program of reconstruction and enrichment such as these recom- 
mendations suggest can not, of course, be carried out all at once. But 
the beginning once made, progress would be rapid, if the entire 
school system could be established upon the basis outlined elsewhere 
in the report. Under such conditions all the children of San Fran- 
cisco would be led to appreciate their heritage of natural beauty, to 
enjoy the wealth of beautiful things stored in their city, and to 
exercise taste in the selective art which every person has to practice. 
The gifted children would be discovered and trained to add to the 
wealth of the city through creative participation in its art industries 
and to increase its prestige through enhancing its civic beauty. 
Moreover, through the development and utilization of its Art In- 
stitute, as the crown of its art educational s} 7 stem, the city would be- 
come the goal of ambitions talent throughout the whole region and 
play its logical leading part in transmuting the glories of the State 
and the genius of its people into works of fine art that would add 
new honors to California. 



440 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 



IXSTBUCTION IN ABT. 



1. The school grounds should be improved, and an expert interior 
decorator employed to improve the interiors of school buildings. 

2. In each school building there should be maintained a constantly 
growing collection of work done by the children. 

3. Schoolrooms should be furnished with pictures appropriate to 
the grade of the room in the elementary schools and to the subject 
of instruction in the high schools. 

4. A school library for purposes of art instruction should be 
started in every school building. 

5. Each school building should have a collection of beautiful 
things. 

6. The valuable reference material now stored in the various 
museums of the city should be made available for use in the schools. 

7. An orderly , and well-defined course of instruction should be 
formulated for all the schools of the city. 

8. During the first six years in school such a course should em- 
phasize the importance of putting the children in possession of the 
tools, the elements, and the fundamental processes of delineation. 

9. After the sixth year, emphasis should be placed upon exercises 
which deal with the elements of beauty, such as subtlety of propor- 
tion, refinement of line, graduation of value, modulation of color, 
and harmonious relations of parts, calculated to develop discrimina- 
tion and taste. 

10. The course of study should insist upon a perpetual and vita] 
interrelation between all lessons in drawing, design, and color, and 
the enjoyments and activities of daily life, and the common handi- 
crafts. 

11. Advisory committees of business men. artisans, artists, and 
other specially interested persons should be formed to consult with 
the director of art instruction and the supervisors as to the courses 
offered. 

12. In the evening schools opportunities for practical instruction 
in the drawing related to the various trades should be greatly 
extended. 

13. The organization of the art department should include: {a) A 
director, responsible for all courses of study in art in all schools, and 
for general oversight of the work of all teachers having to do with 
art instruction; (b) a corps of at least 10 broadly trained super- 
visors,; (c) in all intermediate, high, and evening schools there 
should be well-trained special teachers of drawing and design, them- 
selves capable of producing the results expected of pupils; (d) in all 
other buildings containing pupils above the sixth grade the de- 






INSTRUCTION IN ART. 441 

. partmental system should be extended to include art instruction; (e) 
during the first six school years instruction in drawing should be 
given by the regular grade teachers under the oversight of the su- 
pervisors; (/) the classes for individual instruction and practice for 
teachers should be continued, and attendance of teachers notably in 
efficient in drawing should be made compulsory. 

14. Provision should be made to enable the board of education to 
comply with the law requiring that " necessary supplies for the use 
of the schools must be furnished " free to pupils. 

L5. Adequate provision should be made for discovering, encourag 
ing, and training specially talented children, by (a) hearty coop- 
eration among teachers and supervisors, (b) extra work and extra 
time for drawing for such children, (c) special classes for such chil- 
dren after school hours or on Saturdays, (d) school credit for special 
achievements of this character. 

16. The possibility of utilizing students in the normal classes at 
the Art Institute as special part-time teachers in the public schools 
ander the supervision of the director of art instruction should be 
considered. 



Chapter XII. 

HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 



PART I. 



A discussion of home economics education in the public schools of 
San Francisco necessitates a resume of conditions as they existed at 
the time of the survey committee's visit; a statement of ideals in 
regard to this phase of education ; and a scries of recommendations 
for immediate modifications and the ultimate development of courses, 
instructional corps, and material equipment. 

Vocational training for wage earning will not be considered in this 
section of the report, though many of the wage-earning occupations 
for women are closely related to the subjects included in home 
economics courses. 

Home economics education includes instruction in those subjects 
which relate to home making and its coordinate activity, housekeep- 
ing. It is prevocational in so far as it acquaints the student with 
many household employments, especial proficiency in one of which 
may later be developed and become a wage-earning occupation. It 
is vocational to the extent that it actually prepares a student for 
effective discharge of duties within the home and gives scientific prep- 
aration for efficient administration of household affairs. ' Home 
economics contributes in large measure to the general education of 
the student, leading to accurate perception and intellectual develop 
ment. 

Modern civilization tends to place upon women the economic func 
dons of consumers, and, to a less degree than in former times, those 
of producers of wealth. The concrete knowledge gained in handling 
materials, estimating cost, and considering time values becomes of 
direct value in training intelligent distributors of family incomes. 
The management of a modern sanitary home involves many opera- 
tions and demands much power of adjustment. The school must 
supply both knowledge and skill. 

Home economics, therefore, finds its place in the school curricula 
because it furnishes vocational training in that occupation in which 

442 






HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 443 

93 per cent of all American women ultimately engage; because it 
gives prcvocational training leading to the industries in which the 
majority of all women wage earners enter; and because it contributes 
to that training which develops mind through sense development and 
awakens intelligent interest in problems relating to good citizenship. 
In considering the children of San Francisco certain facts must be 
borne in mind: 

(1) The city is at the point of a peninsula with excellent trans- 
portation facilities to the mainland by rail and by water. So good 
and so swift are these methods of transportation that great numbers 
of those employed in the city commute and keep their families in the 
near-by cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Sausalito, and San 
Mateo. The very poor can afford neither the time nor the expense 
incident to this daily travel. This condition of life affects the school 
population and deprives it of many children belonging to families 
of men of moderate means. Many of the wealthy send their children 
to private schools. 

(2) The city is built up and down abrupt hills, some of which do 
aot permit of street railways. In the outlying districts the building 
operations have been limited to the lower levels, and the streets over 
the hills are still unopened. These geographic conditions react upon 
school conditions and necessitate school accommodations somewhat 
different from those which may be considered best in cities located 
differently. 

(3) San Francisco's living conditions show marked contrasts in 
different sections of the city. The northeast section is congested. 
Of 3,073 children reporting, 1,880 lived in tenements, flats, or apart- 
ments. This region includes the oriental settlement and receives 
the majority of the newly-arrived foreign people. About the same 
number of children reported from the western section of the city, 
4,035, and of these only 885 lived in dwellings housing two or more 
families. In the first region many mothers work and the children 
carry much of the responsibility for home work and household 
financial management. The Mission section is another congested 
district and in contrast with it is the south section, where but 233 
out of 4,364 children live under tenement conditions. Uniformity of 
instruction concerning food and living conditions under such diverse 
home experiences is evidently unreasonable. 

(4) In the school population of San Francisco may be found chil- 
dren of every race and nationality. Many of these children come 
from homes in which no word of English is spoken and where the 
older members of the family do net understand school attendance 
laws or laws relating to child labor. These adults, many of whom 
rame from the rural sections of Europe, meet new conditions of liv- 
ing when housed in tenements for the first time: and ignorant, a* 



444 PUBLIC SCHOOL, SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

they often are, of the fundamental laws of sanitation, the health of 
the children is greatly affected by the family's changed mode of life 
in the new country. 

(5) San Francisco presents a peculiarly unstable school popula- 
tion". Not only do the foreign parents move from one section of 
the city to another, but the American population coming into the 
State from the East uses San Francisco as a " port of entry " for 
much of the Pacific coast and they remain in San Francisco a few 
months or years, until a choice has been made for permanent resi- 
dence. An illustration of this changing population may be taken 
from the John Swett School. In this school in 1915 there were 606 
pupils entered, 262 transferred, and 344 that merely disappeared from 
the school without record of their later whereabouts. This shifting 
school population seriously complicates school administration. 

(6) Because of foreign parentage and existing economic condi- 
tions, many children in the San Francisco schools are over age. In 
groups taken at random the following ages were given: 

In low seventh class (just entering seventh grade) 1 was 11 years; 
5 were 12 years; 10 were 13 years; 4 were 14 years; 3 were 15 years. 
The normal age for students entering the seventh grade is 12 years. 
These would require two entire years to complete the elementary 
schools. 

A high seventh-grade class questioned reported as follows: Sis 4 
were 12 years of age; 12 were 13 years; 7 were 14 years; and 5 were 
15 years. These had one and one-half years of elementary school 
time ahead, making two-fifths of the class reach ages from 15^ to 
17 years before finishing the elementary schools. 

Table 23, page 34, exhibits this condition most clearly. 

(7) Another condition affecting the teaching of home economics 
is that large numbers of girls enter the upper elementary grades 
from Catholic schools and " homes " in which a considerable degree 
of skill in handwork has been developed, and these students are clas- 
sified only with difficulty. 

(8) The climate of San Francisco varies little throughout the 
year, and the extremes of heat and cold which have in other parts 
of the country determined the length of the school are not here 
existent. 

These factors of racial inheritances, geographic and climatic en- 
vironment, and economic status must not be overlooked in any de- 
tailed study of school conditions. 

COURSES OF STUDY IN HOME ECONOMICS. 

Regular elementary schools. — Domestic science, i. e., food prepara- 
tion, is required of all seventh and eight grade students in the ele- 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 445 

mentary public schools. The course of study consists of a logical 
sequence of lessons wherein the student's attention is chiefly centered 
on cooking, though discussion of food values and the economical pur- 
chase of foods are not omitted. The course is rigid and makes little 
provision for choice either as to food material or method of prepara- 
tion, because the course has had to be planned with economy of food 
materials as the dominating principle. Every girl, no matter what 
her race, religion, or economic status, cooks exactly the same articles 
in the same way at a certain period of her classwork. The cost of 
food materials used per pupil for the entire year of 1915-16 was less 
than 44 cents. 

The domestic-science or food-preparation course for the three inter- 
mediate schools follows the general outline of that used for the 
elementary schools, but is modified by the teachers directly in charge 
of this work. Since each of these three schools is a law unto itself. 
even the time allotment is not necessarily uniform. Small quantities 
of food are used because of the small expenditure permitted. In 
general, the sixth-grade grrls have one lesson of 85 minutes each 
alternate week, though at times they may have a lesson each week 
for one-half year in the sixth grade or a lesson weekly for the entire 
grade. The seventh and eighth grade students have one lesson per 
week — from 85 to 120 minutes— in these intermediate schools. How- 
ever modified, the course still includes only small recipe cookery. It 
tends to develop along lines of better housewifery practice. 

Sewing in the elementary schools has not been provided by the 
school authorities. Practice teachers from Lux School arc permitted 
to teach sewing to the children in the lower grades in certain schools, 
and four regular domestic-science teachers Avho have free hours are 
also used. The course of study in sewing had been in use but a few 
weeks at the time of the survey committee's visit, and was, as the 
supervisor of domestic science (under whom this instruction is given) 
frankly stated, " on trial." Since this course is but tentative and 
must of necessity be adjusted to the age of students who in the 
various schools are permitted by the principals to take this work, 
and modified by the opinions of those in authority over the Lus 
students, a discussion of the course is not here necessary, though 
there was evidence that it had been planned with care and along the 
most approved lines. 

Sewing in the three intermediate schools. — For the three inter- 
mediate schools in which sewing is taught, there is no uniform course 
of study. Each teacher plans her work independently and in no 
way consults the supervisor of domestic science or her fellow teachers 
of sewing in other schools. 

The Jean Parker School is for girls only. The cooking follows 
the usual course, but handwork and sewing extend through all the 



446 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

grades and follow a carefully planned and consistent course of work. 
Sewing is taught by the room teachers and is, until the eighth grade, 
limited to very small articles. Millinery is taught in the Jean Parker 
School. The pupils report voluntarily and after the regular schobl 
hours. This is the only grade-school millinery class in the public 
schools of San Francisco. 

There is no provision for teaching the care of the home, the care 
of the sick, home sanitation, or child welfare, except as the teachers 
of domestic science are able to give some little instruction of this 
kind in connection with the cooking lessons. 

The absence of classes for boys in camp cookery is particularly 
noticeable in a community from which go so many boys into summer 
camps of foresters, fruit pickers, hop pickers, and workers in fish- 
eries and canneries. 

Tligli-school courses in home economics. — There is no uniform 
course in home economics in the high schools of the city. Where 
work of this nature occurs, it follows a course arranged by the 
teacher in charge. * 

The courses offered in the Polytechnic High School are newly or- 
ganized and are undergoing modifications. The food-preparation 
course is detrimentally affected by the necessity of preparing food9 
only such as arc demanded for use in the school lunchroom. The 
noon lunch furnished groups of teachers is a development in the right 
direction. 

The sewing and millinery courses are of accepted standards, but 
are not closely coordinated with the art courses. The sewing courses 
in the other two high schools are unrelated to each other or to that 
of the Polytechnic High School. 

Evening -school home economics courses. — There is for the evening- 
school work a course in cookery, one in sewing, and one in millinery. 
The course in cookery is very similar to the course used in the ele- 
mentary day schools — all small quantity cookery, with brief talks by 
the teachers on purchase, use, and the food value of articles at hand. 

A definite sewing course can not be advantageously followed in 
the evening schools as now organized, owing to the necessity of 
adaptation to the needs, experience, and materials of the various 
students enrolled, who may be young or old, experienced or un- 
trained, American or foreign. 

The millinery course is well planned and consistently followed. 

Evening classes meet for two hours. Dressmaking and cooking 
classes meet twice a week, while the millinery classes meet but once. 
The students pay $1 for materials used in the millinery classes, 15 
cents for thread and needles used in sewing, and 25 cents per month 
for materials used in cooking classes. 



SOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 447 

There were 12 evening classes, averaging 25 mature women students 
per class, or a total of 300 women in all San Francisco receiving 
instruction in household arts at the expense of the city. This 
evening- school work is offered at but four centers — Jean Parker. 
Bernal, Irving M. Scott, and Hamilton. It is reported that there 
is always a waiting list equal to the enrollment. 

Courses for the unusual child; — There are no courses especially 
arranged for retarded or overaged children, or for children handi- 
capped by such physical defects as deafness; nor are there courses 
planned for the working girl who has free time on Saturday, nor for 
the housekeeper who has afternoon hours available. Four girls 
from the oral school report to a class in cooking. * 

Teaching force. — San Francisco has on salary 24 teachers of home 
economics subjects in the regular day schools. Of these, 13 teach 
cookery in the elementary and intermediate schools ; 3 teach sewing 
in the intermediate schools ; 4 teach in the Polytechnic High School : 
3 teach sewing and millinery in the Girls' High School ; and 1 teaches 
sewing in the Mission High School. In addition, there are 6 teachers 
of evening schools who are paid per evening of work, and 2 part-time 
teachers of cookery in the elementary schools. There were at the 
time of the visit of the survey commission 17 Lux School students 
teaching sewing in the schools. 

Home teachers. — In recognition of the great burden of responsi- 
bility that rests upon coast cities in receiving foreign people and 
training them for American citizenship, the legislature of Califor 
aia made legal the employment of " home teachers." To teach the 
foreign or unfortunate mother how better to care for her children, 
how to obtain for her family sanitary conditions, and how to con- 
serve her meager income, is of evident importance to the entire 
community. 

San Francisco has but one "home teacher" and that one is sup- 
ported by the Council of Jewish Women. In less than two months 
she visited the homes of 78 absentees and investigated the causes of 
the children's nonattendance at school. 

In many cases she found that the newly arrived parent did not 
know the meaning of the compulsory education law, and often she 
found illness due to ignorance. Is it strange that those who have 
never lived in apartments or congested districts should find it diffi- 
cult to adjust their habits of life to these new conditions in a foreign 
country ? 

The teaching force emplo3 r ed for instruction in home economics 
is manifestly inadequate to give the quantity and type of instruction 
which a city school system of the size of San Francisco needs. 



448 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 
Table 153. — Home economics in five cities. 



Cities. 


Population. 


ITome- 
economics 

teachers 
employed. 


Comments. 


Cincinnati, Ohio 


303,391 
533,905 
301,408 
319, 198 

416,912 


42 
73 
30 
80 

24 


Instruction begins in fifth year. 


Pittsburgh, Pa 


Minneapolis, Minn 


Those employed in teaching cooVing only. 
In elementary schools; others in evening ana 
high schools. 


Los Angeles, Cal 


San Francisco, Cal 







Table 153 shows that San Francisco lags far behind the following 
cities : 

Cincinnati, Ohio, a city of somewhat similar size, employs 42 
teachers in the regular home-economics classes, and the instruction 
begins in the fifth grade. 

Pittsburgh, Pa., a city but one-fourth larger than San Francisco, 
employs 54 teachers in the elementary schools, 2 in the industrial, 
and 17 in the high schools, besides special teachers for trade work: 
a total of 73 teachers regularly employed, in comparison to San Fran 
Cisco's 24. 

Minneapolis, Minn., has 38 centers and 30 teachers of cookery in 
the elementary schools alone, besides 2G centers for teaching sewing. 

Los Angeles, Cal., employs 1 supervisor, 4 assistant supervisors, 
and 75 special teachers of cooking and sewing in the elementary 
schools, besides a full corps of teachers of home economics in the high 
schools and others for night-school work. 

Teaching conditions, — The majority of the teachers of cooking W 
the elementary schools of San Francisco have entered by examina- 
tion. The system of examination now in existence seems to be fairly 
administered, and the selection of teachers by that means has been 
satisfactory. The teachers indicate in their reports that they realize 
the difficulties under which they work, which arc due to overcrowd- 
ing, mixed classes, insanitary rooms, and the enforced economy of 
materials which precludes cooking in quantities comparable to those 
used in a home. 

The salaries for the cookery teachers vary from $3 per day for the 
substitute teacher to $1,224 for the teacher longest in service. Length 
of service should not determine amount of salary paid. Ability, 
preparation, successful teaching, and continued intellectual growth 
should be controlling factors in salary rating. 

There is an average of 300 students to each teacher. That this 
condition of an excessive number of students being instructed by one 
teacher is common to many other city schools does not prove that it 
is desirable. 






HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 449 

A home-economics teacher should know her pupils and also their 
home conditions. To expect that she shall inform herself with re- 
spect to the conditions existing in 300 different homes and become 
helpfully acquainted with 300 children, each of whom she sees but 
once each week, is to expect the impossible. The teachers in the high 
schools average larger salaries and more extended preparation. 
They instruct fewer students per week, but often have excessively 
large classes. 

In the Polytechnic High School there are 4 teachers of household 
arts. They average 39 teaching periods per week, with an average 
of 25 students in each period, an average of 9G5 individual lessons 
taught a week. This is about 8 hours' work per day per teacher 
and is an unreasonably heavy load. These teachers report earlier 
and stay later than the average high-school instructor, and one of 
these has in addition to this burden the responsibility of the school 
luncheon and the luncheons prepared for groups of teachers. 

The sewing teachers in the Mission and Girls' High Schools labor 
under the added difficulty of attempting to teach sewing in forty- 
five-minute periods. This arrangement does not permit more than 
30 minutes a day of clear time for sewing. This short time with 
large classes makes progressive instruction impossible. 

The evening-school teachers are women selected because of their 
special fitness as instructors of mature women. These teachers are 
paid $3.50 per evening of work. 

Supervision of home economics. — The present supervision of cook- 
ing in the elementary schools is good. Stimulating conferences of 
all subordinate teachers are regularly held; new information in re- 
gard to foods is placed at their command; sources of exhibit mate- 
rials are discussed ; and general matters relating to lesson costs and, 
presentation are considered. Besides these conferences, the super- 
visor is actively interested in the instruction given in each center and 
visits all centers regularly. 

There is no supervision of the sewing in the three intermediate 
schools. While. these schools are, in a sense, experimental, and the 
advantages of added time spent on vocational subjects are under dis- 
cussion, some uniformity should be maintained and a consistent course 
should be administered in order that conclusions may be based upon 
the results of fair experimentation. With the present lack of super- 
vision of sewing there is no similarity of methods or plans in the 
three schools, and a transfer of a student from one to the other would 
greatly confuse the student in this line of work. 

The Jean Parker School, as elsewhere mentioned in this report, 
gives a sewing course entirely different from any given in any 
school in the city. 

93815—17 29 



450 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

The Irving Scott School begins sewing in the fourth grade, and 
this is under the cooperative direction of the Lux School teachers and 
the supervisor of domestic science. 

The home-economics work in the high schools is unsupervised; 
hence no consistent scheme of progressive instruction is possible; 
nor can uniform work be established in the various high schools. 
Theoretically, one member of the teaching force in the department 
of home economics in the Polytechnic High School is in charge of all 
home-economics work given in that school ; but, in actual operation, 
it amounts to no supervision since she is so overloaded with class 
teaching and other responsibilities that she is unable to assume even 
the limited authority supposedly delegated to her. 

The Mission High School sewing instruction is unsupervised, 
the periods are of 40 minutes' length each day, and the students are 
withdrawn from the class for other duties, so that no class is the 
eame throughout the week. Some of the same conditions exist in 
the Girls' High School, but the difficulties under which the work is 
given are not so great. The absence of supervision permits the sew- 
ing in these different schools to be wholly unlike and would make 
credit adjustments difficult were students to change from one high 
school to another. 

Adequate supervision would remove these evils of inequality and 
lack of standards and would make a consistent, progressive course 
possible. 

EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES. 

Food preparation. — In the elementary schools the cooking is 
laught at " centers." These centers are so situated that one-fourth 
of all girls in the seventh and eighth grades must leave their build- 
ings to go to others in which the required instruction in cookery is 
given. Some instances of this are the following: One hundred and 
sixty-five Fairmount School children walk 15 blocks in all kinds of 
weather. No street cars are available. The Francis Scott Key 
School children are 35 blocks from the Laguna Honda center, to 
which they are supposed to report. Ninety-one Farragut School 
children travel by unopened streets, over sand hills. The Visitacion 
Valley School children travel 30 blocks where the car service is poor 
and the children are of a class that can ill afford car-fare expense. 
These are foreign children for whom there should be a sense of espe- 
cial responsibility. It is unnecessary to call attention to the amount 
of school time lost to the pupils and to the special teacher of cooking 
because of this time-consuming travel from school to school. 

For giving instruction in cooking to all girls and young women in 
San Francisco there are 28 kitchens in the elementary and inter- 
mediate schools and 2 in the Polytechnic High School. 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 451 

The quality and condition of equipment varies from that of the 
Polytechnic High School, which is of the most elaborate, up-to-date 
type, to that of the Hearst and Horace Mann Schools. To the latter 
401 students come weekly. All cooking utensils are exposed to dust 
and dirt and the desks are insanitary and wholly inadequate. In 
the Hearst, Bay View, and other schools the floors are dirty and illy 
kept and furnish a poor example to the children of what a kitchen 
should be. 

In the Crocker, Everett, Glen Park, Hearst, and five other schools 
there is no provision for heating the kitchens except by lighting the 
open gas flames of the hot plates. From other schools come classes 
often wet, many times cold, to these unheated rooms. " Too cold to 
write" is a common expression. In an effort to make the rooms 
reasonably warm the gas burners are lighted and the room is filled 
with the gas waste products and the windows drip with moisture. 

In the new buildings the home-economics rooms have been put in 
the basement, and the only means for ventilation of these rooms is 
through small upper sections of the windows. When 21 gas hot 
plates are burning and 24 kettles of cooking food are boiling, the air 
is laden with moisture and gas products. The smallness of these 
openings may insure against the ingress of the food thief, but the 
openings do not provide for the egress of those gases which steal the 
health of the children. 

Ten of the 15 teachers of cooking listed screened windows as one 
of the conditions most desired by them, for even where the kitchen 
is flush with the street and in a position to attract the flies from the 
gutters unscreened windows were found in the school kitchens. 

Personal cleanliness can not be easily achieved where 30 or more 
students come to a laboratory equipped for 22 or 24, and supplied 
with but two sinks. These sinks are used as places for hand washing, 
obtaining water for cooking, and for emptying all dishwater. It is 
not surprising that hands are not clean, that hair is disarranged, and 
that teachers are unable to oversee the personal appearance of the 
children when there are so many in the room that every desk is 
occupied and still enough children must be crowded in to half fill 
another room, The consensus of opinion among expert home eco- 
nomics teachers is that 20 students are all that any one teacher can 
properly care for in one sewing or cooking class. In some centers 
classes from different grades and different schools report at the same 
time and the teacher is forced to give two lessons at once. 

Each of 4,3G5 homes sends a dish towel to school each week to be 
used by a child from that home. Will all those 4 ; 3G5 towels be from 
homes uninfected with disease germs? The dishes wiped by each 
towel are left to be used bv another child. The latter child mav 



452 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

come from the most cleanly and sanitary home, while the former may 
come from the most undesirable neighborhood. 

All food material in the San Francisco cooking classes is pur- 
chased in quantity and distributed to the various kitchens. The esti- 
mates of needs are made twice a year, except for butter and eggs, 
which are supposed to be bought once a year and preserved for future 
use. With modern methods of commercial cold storage, it is to be 
doubted if this annual purchase of eggs and butter is advantageous. 

A revolving fund of $100 per month is provided for the purchase 
of meats, vegetables, perishable fruits, and fresh milk for 4,365 
pupils. Two and one-half cents per pupil per month ! 

From necessity the children handle the most minute quantities 
possible in their cooking lessons. 

Exhibit material is an essential in teaching home economics. In 
many of the kitchens the teachers have secured through their own 
efforts and at their own expense excellent exhibit material, but this 
is not so abundant as it should be nor so varied as it might be if 
there were some school fund available for its purchase. 

In one high school — the Polytechnic — there is provision for food- 
preparation classes. The two laboratories provided are well lighted, 
well ventilated, and provided with modern equipment for small 
recipe cooking. 

The lack of a dining room makes necessary the use of the center 
of the laboratory on any occasion of meal service. The storerooms 
are unnecessarily large. There is no small kitchen or dining room 
where meal preparation can be conveniently taught under approxi- 
mately home conditions. All food materials come from the storeroom 
of the cafeteria, and the prepared food is sent back to the cafeteria 
for sale. This arrangement provides for the consumption of articles 
prepared, permits of preparation of larger quantities, but affects the 
^ork disadvantageously to some extent, since salable articles must 
always be produced. 

There are sewing rooms in the three intermediate schools in San 
Francisco. The room in the Crocker School is good, well lighted, 
and large enough for ordinary classes. This had just been occupied 
at the time of the visit of the commission and new machines had been 
purchased for the classes. In the Hamilton School the conditions 
are fair, but the room is unsuited on all dark days, since there is no 
provision for electricity, and there are too few windows to furnish 
adequate light, except when the sun shines. The third sewing room, 
the one in the Horace Mann School, is unsuited to its purpose and 
poorly equipped. Partial partitions divide it from other rooms. 
It is long, narrow, dark, and cold. There are 161 girls in the grad- 
uation class from this last intermediate school, and 161 graduating 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 453 

dresses to be made on two machines! In the Jean Parker School 
there are sewing machines for the use of the upper-class girls and 
night-school students, and there are sewing machines at the Bernal 
Heights School and Irving Scott School for students and night-school 
classes in dressmaking. The rooms in these schools are not suited 
for sewing classes. In one there is no heat. In another the adult 
women sit and work at the ordinary day-school desks, which are both 
uncomfortable and inconvenient. 

Excellent rooms and equipment for sewing and millinery are 
available in the Polytechnic High School and the Girls' High School, 
but the room in the Mission High School is in the basement, reached 
through the furnace room, unheated except by a gas radiator, damp, 
dark, and cold ; nor has this room enough machines, tables, or other 
necessary supplies. 

There are no housekeeping rooms, or apartments, or practice cot- 
tages for the teaching of home economics in any San Francisco school. 
There are no small-sized kitchens or dining rooms in which meals 
can be prepared under approximately home conditions. House- 
keeping or household management can only be taught incidentally in 
connection with the food-preparation classes. For these classes there 
is nothing that the children can learn to buy, nothing they can plan, 
since there is no money to spend and no opportunity for original 
work. 

An excellent room for the teaching of the home care of the sick 
is furnished in the Polytechnic High School. This room might also 
become a laboratory for students in housewifery and be made use 
of by night-school students. There is no other provision for teaching 
the care of the sick, cither to children or to adults, in any public 
school in San Francisco. 

Lunch rooms. — The entire absence of school lunch rooms in the ele- 
mentary schools is noticeable. The teachers remaining at the school 
during the noon period usually obtain some food from the janitrcss 
or cook a lunch for themselves. The children buy from near-by 
stores when they have the money. The Polytechnic is the only high 
school having adequate lunch-room facilities. 

OPPORTUNITY FOR TEACHERS TO STUDY. 

The present schedule for teachers of home economics in San Fran- 
cisco and the custom of deducting from their pay for days absent is 
almost prohibitive of summer-school courses for them. Educators 
consider it in all ways advantageous for teachers actively engaged in 
school work to attend university summer schools, but San Francisco 
school authorities, it seems, do not encourage this practice. If a 
teacher enters summer school, she sacrifices her pay for the last 



454 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSXEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 



week or two of the school year, which she of necessity misses; fur- 
thermore, the school gains financially in this, since the supervisor 
usually assumes the work of the absent teacher without receiving 
extra compensation. When, in order to increase her efficiency, a 
teacher takes a leave of absence for advanced courses, she not only 
spends her own time and money, but further sacrifices a portion of 
her following summer's vacation. Since it is assumed that advanced 
courses of study do improve a teacher's efficiency and make her 
services more valuable to the community, some plan should be 
evolved whereby the teacher's willingness to add to her preparation 
may be recognized and conditions developed that will make a leave 
of absence for such a purpose possible for her without additional 
and unnecessary sacrifices. 



Table 154. — Location of centers for teaching domestic science, with date of 
installation of equipment, type of equipment, and students in attendance. 



Name of school. 


Date ol 
equip- 
ment. 


Type of 
equip- 
ment. 


Students in attendance. 


Remarks. 


Glen Park 


1909 

1915 
1912 

1900 

1900 

1911 

1911 
1900 
1912 

1909 

1910 
1912 

1909 

1912 
1913 

1906 

1912 

1912 

1912 
1912 
1909 
1915 

1911 

1914 
1911 

1911 

1912 

1912 


No. 3 

No. 1 
No. 1 

No. 4 

No. 5 

No. 1 

No. 2 
No. 5 
No. 1 

No. 2 

No. 1 
No. 1 

No. 3 

No. 1 
No. 1 

No. 3 

No. 1 

No. 1 

No. 1 
No. 1 
No. 2 
No. 1 

No.l 

No. 1 
No.l 

No.l 

No.l 

No.l 


/Local 

\Sunnyside 

Local 

do 

/....do 

\McKinley 


. 57 
. 16 
. 275 
. 84 
. 59 
. 26 
















Irving M.Scott........ 

Tames Lick 




/Local 

\Fairmount 

Local 

do 

do 

f....do.... 

JGrattan 

iiefferson 

(Francis Scott Key... 

Local 

do... 

/....do 

\Visitacion. 

Columbia 

Local 

/....do 

\Oral... 

/Local 

\Frceraont.... 

/Local 

\McKinIcy 

/Local 

\ Lincoln 

Local... 

/ do 


. 178 
. 165 
. 192 
. 401 
. 94 
. 105 
. 76 
. 17 
. 1 
. 138 
. 77 
. 106 
. 33 

. 145 
. 198 
. 274 
. 4 
. 130 
. 58 
. 91 
. 44 
. 37 
. 27 
. 86 
. 124 
. 28 
. 18 
. 08 
. 45 
. 53 
. 13 
. 48 
. 64 
. 65 
. 57 
. 47 
. 44 
. 79 
. 49 
. 92 
. 28 
. 20 
. 67 


\ Students from Fairmount walk 18 
( blocks. 


Jean Parker 






John S wett 




LagunaJHonda 

Mission 


[Francis Scott Key children ex- 
| cused 35 blocks away. 


Adams 






(Visitacion children travel 30 blocks, 
I bad walking, poor car service. 


Bryant 


{ foreign children. 


Bcrnal 




Crocker 




Denman 


\ Fremont children walk 6 block* 
/ over steep hills. 

JMcKinley children walk 8 blocks. 


Everett. 


Franklin 


Frank McCoppin. 


^Longfellow children walk 16 long 
/ blocks; can not afford car fare. 


Monroe 


\Lonj; fellow 

Local 

f....do 

Grant 

{Sherman 

Win field Scott...... 

1 Yerba Buena 

Local 

/....do.... 

\Madison.... 

(Local 

\Farragut 

/Local .... 

\Rcdding 

i Local 

IG. Pcabody.... 


Oriental 


Pacific Heights 

Portola ... 


These children travel 7 to 13 blocks 
\ over the steepest hills in Sao 
Francisco. 


Roosevelt 




Sheridan. 


\Forragut children travel over sand 
/ hills; street not cut through. 


Spring Valley.... 


Sutro 


[children travel from 6 to 28 blocks. 




iRochambcau 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 455 

In the above list Type 1 is the most recently installed. This 
equipment is good, but is not always well arranged in the rooms, 
and in all cases more sinks are needed. 

Type 2 was introduced in 1909. Old millwork has often been used 
in this and in Type 3, and much of this equipment is poor and should 
be replaced in the near future. 

Type 3 first installed in 1909. 

Types 4 and 5 were installed in 1900 from old millwork and were 
emergency equipment at the time of construction. This equipment 
should be replaced immediately by clean, modern, sanitary desks, 
sinks, and desk equipment. 

' SUMMARY. 

See Table 154 for location of centers. 

The children of San Francisco have need of courses in home eco- 
nomics adapted to their varying economic conditions and their racial 
inheritances. 

The courses in home economics are inadequate. Cookery is given 
only once a week in the seventh and eighth grades, except in the three 
intermediate schools, and in one or two others where the principals 
are unusually progressive. 

Sewing is given by school board support only in the three 
intermediate schools and in four others where the principals have 
taken an especial interest in the subject. 

Housewifery is not recognized in any course. 

Home nursing instruction is available for Polytechnic High Schoo) 
students only. 

Food preparation is not included in any high school course except 
in the Polytechnic High School. There are sewing classes in three 
high schools, but the work in each is independent of that in other 
high schools. 

No determined effort has been made to correlate the art instruction 
with that of home economics. 

The classes are very generally overcrowded. 

The teachers in home economics are interested in their work and 
ambitious for its further development. With few exceptions they 
are reading the newer educational publications and making all pos- 
sible use of summer-school courses. 

The office of supervisor carries with it authority for the supervi- 
sion of cooking classes in the elementary schools, sewing classes in 
charge of the Lux practice students, and the sewing in the three other 
elementary schools. The high-school courses are not under uniform 
supervision. The night schools are separate in supervision. 



456 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FBANCISCO. 

The allowance for supplies to the cookery class is so meager that 
only minute quantities of food materials can be used. 

There is no provision for sale of food prepared by elementary 
schools, though there is evident need for school lunches and lunches 
for teachers. 

Much of the equipment used in elementary cooking classes is old 
and in bad condition. It is located in "centers" which necessitate 
much traveling by children from their regular schools to these " cen- 
ters " and causes loss of school time and exposure by the children to 
the vicissitudes of a damp winter climate. 

Two high schools and one intermediate school have good sewing 
rooms and sewing equipment. All other sewing is done under diffi- 
cult conditions. 

There is need of more liberal allowances for ambitious teachers 
who desire to take advanced courses in home economics. 

PART II. 

Progress in home-economics instruction in public schools has been 
retarded by efforts to adjust it to the traditions of the older type 
of public-school education. Liberation from these traditions and a 
fearless consideration of the subject as one meriting a place in the 
school curriculum because of its own worth result in much more 
effective methods of teaching. 

Courses in home economics. — An ideal course in home economics 
is prevocational, as it introduces the child to the needlecrafts, food- 
preparation industries, millinery trade, laundry management, and 
the paid occupations connected with household administration. It 
is vocational in that it prepares a girl or woman to assume the 
responsibilities and to discharge the duties devolving upon the maker 
of a home; training in the choice, purchase, preparation, and service 
of food in the home ; the purchase of fabrics and their manufacture 
into suitable garments and articles for family use; the sanitation 
and care of the house; the care of children and of the sick; the 
appreciation of that which is beautiful; and the management of the 
financial affairs of the household. 

It is a legitimate part of every girl's education, and it should be 
properly correlated with the usual academic studies and thus make 
education interesting and vital. Home-economics studies not only 
give increased manual skill, but stimulate appreciation of scientific 
knowledge and awaken the social conscience within the student. It 
trains in the accurate observation of the phenomena of plant and 
animal life and the commercial activities of the community in which 
the student lives. 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 457 

RESULTS OF HOME-ECONOMICS INSTRUCTION. 

The girl completing the eight grades of school should be able to 
plan, purchase, prepare, and serve a simple meal for a family of 
average size having a moderate income. She should be able to choose 
food materials with discrimination, recognizing those which give 
adequate food value in proportion to the price asked, and deciding 
intelligently the quantities suitable for the use of the family for 
which she buys. She should be able to wash dishes neatly, keep a 
kitchen in order, care for floors and windows, make a bed, and dust 
a room properly. She should know how to use a commercial pattern 
in garment making, manipulate a sewing machine effective!} 7 , and do 
hand sewing neatly; this skill with needle, machine, and patterns 
should amount to an ability to make all of her own plain garments. 
The girl finishing the academic or business course in a high school 
should know all that has been listed as a reasonable attainment for 
an eighth-grade graduate and should not only have increased in 
skill, but should have grasped the fundamental principles relating to 
nutrition, personal hygiene, care of the sick, household accounting, 
purchase and use of textiles and dressmaking. The student having 
an opportunity to complete an entire line of home economics in any 
high school may be required to familiarize herself with the basic 
scientific principles concerned in administering a household. She 
should have been given courses in color and design, chemistry, 
physics, biology, economics, and sociology, and her skill and dexterity 
should have increased in the use of her needle, the sewing machine, 
and all household utensils and equipment. 

Extension courses should provide opportunities for the wage-earn- 
ing girl to complete her preparation for home making and for the 
housekeeper to perfect her skill in discharging household duties and 
her understanding of the reasons for methods used in household 
tasks. 

Especially should afternoon and evening courses offer instruction 
relating to the careful purchase and use of household supplies, since 
the financial safety of the family so largely depends upon the efficient 
management of the family's income. 

ADAPTATION OF COURSES. 

No 4 rigid course in home economics can be planned that may be 
applied to all sections of a large city. All courses in home economics 
should be adapted to the needs of the communities in which these 
courses are offered. The end attained should be the same, but the 
means used should vary with the condition of the neighborhood 
where the work is given. 



458 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

From the poorer sections the children of foreign parentage are 
often older than the average student in their grades, and since many 
of them leave school before completing the eighth grade, and since 
also they are particularly appreciative of the practical phases of 
education, and thereby may be induced to continue in school, it is 
usually necessary to adjust the home-economics course to meet their 
conditions and to stress the practical phases of the work. In sec- 
tions of the city, the school population of which usually continues 
throughout the elementary grades and enters the high-school courses, 
a home economics elementary school course somewhat less intensive 
may be best adapted to their needs. This latter course may logically 
lead directly to the high-school courses in the same subject and be so 
arranged that the one becomes the basis of the other. 

Every girl in the city high schools should be required to pursue one 
year of home economics. This course should be equivalent to a full 
unit 1 of work and is most effective if it consists of two recitation 
periods and three double periods for laboratory each week. This 
course meets the needs of the students in the courses leading to uni- 
versity entrance, and of those who pursue such vocational courses as 
are offered in the business high school and trade high schools. 

Elective home-economics courses should be in every high school 
except business and similar vocational schools, while specialized vo- 
cational home economics courses should be offered in one or more 
high schools. 

Specially adapted courses of home economics designed to meet 
the natural limitations of the blind, deaf, or mentally subnormal are 
an essential unit of all large city school systems. Deaf children be- 
come expert in any or all household activities and through these 
courses may be led to vocational courses affording agreeable occupa- 
tions and assuring adequate self-support. 

These variations and adaptations of courses do not indicate that 
each teacher is to plan her own work or modify the course given; 
indeed, just the opposite, it means definitely and carefully-planned 
courses which are consistent throughout and which lead the student 
to a predetermined goal in her training by methods adj usted to social 
and economic needs, these methods being uniform in similar sections 
of the city. 

Classes in food preparation should be established for boys of the 
sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. If time can not be found for these 
during the usual school hours, they should be offered at hours con- 
venient for the boys. While these courses are approved for all school 
systems, they are particularly needed in the cities of the Pacific 
Coast States, where so many boys go into camps of various kinds 
during the summer months. 

1 Equivalent of a five-hour course carried through one entire year. 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 459 

CONTENT OF COURSES IN HOME ECONOMICS. 

A satisfactory home-economics course includes lines of work in 
sewing and garment making, in costume design and dressmaking, in 
color and design, in house furnishing, in marketing and food prepa- 
ration, in elementary dietetics and food service, in home sanitation 
and the care of the house, in laundering and housewifery, in house- 
hold accounts and home administration, and in personal hygiene and 
the home care of the sick. 

The foundation for the home-economics instruction is laid in the 
primary schools during the first four years when the child has been 
trained in the manipulation of materials through work in paper, 
cardboard, textiles, basketry, weaving, and drawing. It is sup- 
plemented in the elementary schools by the training in art and by 
the coordinated work in language, geography, arithmetic, elemen- 
tary science, etc. 

In high schools the science courses in chemistry, physics, botany, 
bacteriology, and zoology, and the art courses in color and design 
are the basis of the courses given in the home-economics department. 

Several types of home-economics continuation courses are needed 
in all school systems. Of primary importance are courses designed 
for foreign mothers who need instruction that will enable them to 
adjust their mode of life to their changed environment. These 
courses must emphasize home sanitation, the intelligent purchasing 
of textiles and clothing, and especially should these courses assist in 
familiarizing the mothers with American schools and creating among 
them sympathetic interest in school activities. 

Almost all home makers desire to extend their knowledge in the 
arts and sciences related to home administration. For all desiring 
such instruction courses should be arranged. 

The employed young woman should find school courses open to 
her during her leisure hours wherein she could prepare herself for 
efficient administration of her future home and also enable her to 
improve her present living conditions, that she may be more ade- 
quately nourished, more satisfactorily clothed, and more capable of 
securing for herself sanitary surroundings. 

The needs of the girl who has dropped out of school and remains 
at home should not be overlooked. 

COURSES OF STUDY. 

A. Time.— Elementary-school home-economics instruction should 
begin in the fifth grade. Through this grade and the sixth grade 
the subject should be given four 45-minute periods of student time 
per week; through the seventh and eighth grades, from seven to 



460 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 






nine 45 -minute periods per week should be the minimum for home- 
economics instruction. The 45-minute periods should, be grouped so 
that the actual work shall be 90 minutes twice each week for fifth 
and sixth grade children. It is possible with the usual arrangement 
of school schedules to arrange two classes of this type before the 
noon recess and two classes in the afternoon. 

The seventh and eighth grade students should report to homo- 
economics work in half-day periods twice or three times per week. 

Two of the eight periods in the ninth-grade work should bo given 
to recitations, and laboratory classes should bo arranged for three 
double periods each week. Selected groups of children in the fifth, 
sixth, seventh, and eighth grades can with advantage spend from 
one-third to one-half of their entire school hours in these home- 
economics classes. 

High-school girls should be able to elect courses in home eco- 
nomics and related sciences up to one-half of their entire school 
time. 

B. Details of home-economics courses in the elementary grades. 

Fifth grade. — Housewifery once each week throughout the year. 
Sewing twice a week for one term. Cooking twice a week the second 
term. The housewifery will include bed making, sweeping, dusting, 
table setting, care of silver, dish washing, and care of table linen, 
window draperies, etc. 

The sewing should include both hand sewing and the use of the 
small commercial pattern. The articles made must be of actual 
use, but should be small enough to be finished before the child be- 
comes weary of them. 

The cooking will be of the small individual recipe, since at this 
time the child's hands do not permit of the use of larger utensils 
or greater quantities of materials. 

Sixth grade. — One-half year in sewing and one-half year in cook- 
ing. The sewing should consist of three lessons per week of about 
one hour each; the cooking of two lessons each week of about one 
and one-half hours. 

Both the cooking and the sewing should be a logical continuation 
of the instruction given in the preceding grade, and, in both, stress 
may be placed upon the purchase and economical use of materials 
and upon the comparative value of different types available. No 
opportunity should be overlooked for instructing in habits of per- 
sonal neatness and quiet orderliness. The use of the sewing machine 
will be introduced in this grade. 

Seventh and eighth grades. — Of the time spent in home economics 
by the seventh and eighth grade girls at least one-fifth should be 
devoted to recitation periods in which the subjects of food produc- 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 461 

tion, food economics, home sanitation, marketing, home management, 
house furnishing, choice of textiles, etc., are arranged in progressive 
order. All cooking done in the food-preparation classes should be 
with family-sized quantities. Meal service should be emphasized 
daily and use made of the food cooked by service to teachers as a 
noon lunch, by supply of penny lunches, by use in the school lunch 
room, by special meals for the anemic and tubercular children, and 
occasionally by sale of products to the children or to friends of the 
school. 

The instruction in housekeeping and home sanitation must be ap- 
plied directly to the care of a practice house. 

The sewing must lead not only to garments made by the girls, but 
to lessons in the selection of materials, with attention directed to 
suitability, durability, economy, and real beauty. To attain this in 
garment making, dressmaking, and elementary millinery, the closest 
of cooperation must exist between the department of art and the 
department of home economics. No course in home economics is 
complete without arrangements for visits to stores, markets, manu- 
factories, and to houses under construction. 

The principles and processes learned during the previous year in 
housewifery should be applied in the food-preparation classes. 

There must be a logical sequence of work and a certain amount of 
previous study required as preparation for each class session. 

Fifteen minutes at the beginning of each lesson used in group in- 
struction will make the work much more effective than it is when stu- 
dents are allowed to begin work immediately upon entering the 
rooms. 

Ninth grade. — The ninth grade, which is the upper grade of the 
junior high school, or the first grade of the present type of high 
school, may well complete the home-economics course for the gir] 
preparing for a business career and for the girl reasonably sure of 
entering a college or university. 

Not less than eight hours per week should be given to home eco- 
nomics throughout this year. Theory should .be stressed while the in- 
crease of technical skill is not neglected. 

The food preparation taught in high schools should emphasize 
speed and efficiency and business management applied to the house- 
hold. No high school can install a satisfactory course in home eco- 
nomics that does not offer opportunity for the student to care for 
rooms in a housekeeping apartment, care for household linen and 
supplies, cook and serve real meals at moderate cost, and assume 
responsibility in the use of money. 

In all high schools, excepting only the ones devoted to a commer- 
cial course or other really vocational course, elective courses in ad 



462 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

vanced dressmaking, advanced food preparation, human nutrition, 
elementary dietetics, care of the sick, care of children, and house- 
hold furnishing and home administration should be offered. In all 
these the theory underlying the practice should be stressed. 

Continuation courses. — The short-unit course of 10 or 12 lessons is 
especially to be recommended for all continuation courses for house- 
keepers and mothers. It is often inconvenient for a mother to enroll 
in and attend a course of one-half year's duration, while it is entirely 
possible for her to take a course of five weeks with lessons twice 
each week, upon some phase of home-economics work which is of 
especial interest to her. 

These short-unit courses should be arranged in logical sequence, 
and this same consistent development should extend into a second or 
even third year course of study, and may well result in the earning 
of a certificate at its close. 

Continuation courses in home economics which are intended for 
employed young women should be of one-half year length and may 
with advantage receive high-school credit for work of high-school 
grade. 

Correct classification of continuation students in these afternoon 
and evening classes is necessary. Not always the instruction that 
the student wants, but that of which she is prepared best to make use, 
should be assigned her. 

Unit courses for continuation classes are suggested as follows: In 
foods — vegetable cookery, meat cookery, bread making, inexpensive 
desserts, marketing, etc. In clothing — children's undergarments ; chil- 
dren's outergarments ; dyeing, cleaning, and making over garments 
for children; making wash dresses; handwork; household supplies, 
etc. Similar unit courses should be arranged in the care of the sick, 
sanitation of the household, household accounting, house furnish- 
ing, etc. 

The longer courses for employed young women should follow 
closely the regular courses of the schools. Since one out of every 
three young women is a wage earner between her fifteenth and twen- 
ty-fourth years, and since a majority of these are employed in pur- 
suits evolved from employment formerly carried on within the home, 
it is desirable that the prevocational function of home-economics 
courses should not be at any time overlooked. 

Supervision and instruction in home economics. — To administer 
properly the various courses in home economics, there must be one 
director. To her must be given authority to organize and direct all 
phases of this subject in the entire school system. Only by thus 
centralizing authority and responsibility can a consistent and pro- 
gressive program for home-economics instruction be maintained. 
As in all large cities, the director of home economics will need 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 463 

assistants, and she should be given as many as are needed to ad- 
minister the work satisfactorily. To the assistant director, or 
supervisors, responsibility should be given for certain phases of 
the instruction. 

As suggested elsewhere in this report, the division of duties may 
be made geographically for sections of the city; perpendicularly for 
certain lines of work — for instance, all instruction in clothing and 
textiles ; horizontally, for all work below or above a certain grade — 
for instance, all home-economics instruction in the fifth, sixth, and 
seventh grades, or, all instruction in these subjects when given in 
continuation classes. 

To the director should be delegated the authority to nominate her 
assistants and the teachers on the home-economics staff. Upon the 
director will naturally fall the authority to organize the courses id 
home economics in elementary schools, in high schools, in night 
schools, and in any special schools that may be established. She will 
detail the teachers to work in the parts of the city where their 
services will be most adapted to the needs of the locality. She will 
hold councils to which will come all teachers of home economics 
from all types of schools under city control, and she will help in all 
community matters in which women's organizations are interested. 

If she be worthy of the position as a guide to the development of 
the children, she will certainly be worthy of trust in the material 
growth of the department in her care; hence, she will be recognized 
bj^ the school architect as one to be consulted before the completion 
of the final plans for buildings, and considered by the committee of 
the school board as one to be intrusted with the selection and pur- 
chase of school equipment and supplies. The assistants will be 
women in sympathy with their superior officer, and especially adapted 
to their work. One of the most important of these assistants will 
be the one in charge of afternoon and evening classes. 

The director of home economics should be a woman of broad cul- 
ture, with thorough training in home economics. That she have 
executive ability, business sense, tact, physical strength, and an agree- 
able personality is absolutely essential, since she must administer her 
office, delegate duties to assistants and teachers, establish cooperation 
with various social and philanthropic organizations in her city, main- 
tain cooperative relations with the various school principals, secure 
the support and sympathetic advice of intelligent home makers, 
mothers, club women, business women, teachers, and social workers, 
and transact efficiently the business affairs of her department. It is 
also desirable that she be able to speak agreeably before clubs and 
various educational and business associations. She must have had 
teaching experience before assuming the more difficult position of 
director, and if added to these qualifications she has had experience 



464 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

in the conduct of a home, her value to the community will make her 
worthy of an adequate salary, and such clerical help as will relieve 
her of routine office work and leave her free to advise with her 
assistants and teaching force and cooperate with the other socializing 
factors of the community. 

The assistant should have most of the qualifications expected of 
the director. If one is to have supervision of extension courses, it 
will be well if she be a woman with especial experience in the actual 
administration of a home, and if to this she has added trade experi- 
ence, her value to the schools will be greatly increased. High-school 
teachers of home economics should be required to be graduates of 
four-year home-economics courses in standard colleges or universi- 
ties. Elementary school teachers of home economics should have had 
at least the equivalent of a two years' normal school course in home 
economics, based upon completion of a four-year high-school course 
of established standards. Night school and other continuation course 
teachers should be chosen with extreme care. Trade experience, 
home experience, teaching experience, and special preparation for 
teaching home economics are all desirable qualifications, and none of 
these should be overlooked. It is not sufficient that these teachers 
know their subject both theoretically and practically ; they must also 
have received pedagogical training which enables them to impart 
information and understand the psychology of the mature student 
and the temperamental condition of the employed girl. 

Since the corps of home economics teachers changes frequently in 
all schools, much instruction of teachers and careful supervision is 
necessary if a high quality of teaching is to be maintained. 

Where it becomes necessary to require room teachers to teach 
home-economics subjects these teachers should be prepared for this 
added burden, and such time as is necessary for them to be prepared 
should be granted to them and compensation for this extra prepara- 
tion should be provided. Grade teachers giving home-economics 
instruction should become a portion of the home-economics staff in 
so far as necessary supervision extends. 

There is no question that better work can be done in home eco- 
nomics when special teachers are employed for all instruction of this 
type, but if the financial condition of the city will not permit of 
adequate school support, then some of the sewing can be taught by 
grade teachers. The average grade teacher is herself too often 
unskilled in the use of the needle and must be carefully taught before 
she can teach ; moreover, she is often not interested in industrial edu- 
cation of any type and considers the added burden of equipping her- 
self for teaching sewing an imposition. Therefore it is advisable for 
many reasons to provide, whenever possible, special teachers in home 
economics for all classes. 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 465 

The successful teacher of home economics must not only know her 
subject and be familiar with the better methods of giving instruc- 
tion, but she must also know the local conditions existing in the 
neighborhood wherein she teaches. There is no quick process by 
which she can familiarize herself with the status of the homes from 
which the children come, nor can she suddenly induce the mothers of 
the community to cooperate with her in developing a spirit of home 
making in the girls of her classes. Long terms of service are there- 
fore desirable, and every encouragement possible should be given 
the teachers in their efforts to grasp their opportunities to improve 
the living conditions of those among whom they teach. In the 
foreign sections of the city, and in the less prosperous localities, no 
more profitable use of one afternoon each week of the time of the 
home-economics teacher could be made than m visiting the homes of 
the girls in her class or in meeting the mothers of these girls at the 
school or in the settlement house. 

School authorities should not fail to encourage by all available 
means further study by their teachers, and they should make possible 
pursuance of graduate courses and attendance at summer schools. 

LIMITATION OF NUMBERS IN HOME-ECONOMICS CLASSES. 

No teacher in the elementary or high schools should be permitted 
co enroll more than 20 students in a laboratory class in either food 
preparation or garment making. Extension class teachers can not 
properly instruct more than 15 pupils in any one class. If a strong 
teacher is given an inexperienced assistant, the two together can in- 
struct 25 students in extension classes. 

Extension-class students are less used to receiving class intruc- 
tion and enduring necessary class restraint and are more unevenly 
graded than are regular school pupils. They are often weary from 
the work of the day and consequently require more individual at- 
tention from the teacher in charge. For these reasons all classes for 
adult students should be kept down to the number above given. 

Lecture and recitation classes may, if necessary, be extended to 
Include 30 students, but all in excess of 20 will tend to weaken the 
discipline of the class and decrease the efficiency of the instruction 
given. Classes arranged for the unusual student, students of over 
age, of special economic need, of subnormal girls, of mutes, or of 
those not thoroughly familiar with the English language should be 
limited to 12 pupils, and, under certain conditions, reduced to 8. 

This limitation of home-economics classes can be conveniently ar- 
ranged in the elementary schools if the teacher of the room from 
which the girls come be made an assistant to the regularly employed 
03815 — 17 30 



466 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 






home-economics teacher for the period in which her students are in 
the laboratory ; and it also is easy of accomplishment if large classes 
can be divided between the teachers of food preparation and the 
teachers of garment making. 

Further discussion of details of departmental administration is 
unnecessary, since a capable supervisor receiving the cooperation 
and assistance of school principals and room teachers will find the 
solution for overcrowding that is best adapted under her local con- 
ditions. 

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. 

The business transactions necessitated by the maintenance of a 
department of home economics are somewhat complicated and 
laborious. 

Staple supplies for food lessons may be bought in quantity, but 
the perishable food materials should be purchased as needed and by 
the local teacher. This gives opportunity for the teacher to ac- 
quaint herself with local market conditions and also makes it pos- 
sible to instruct the children in marketing. 

Equipment should be selected by the director after conference with 
the teachers. 

The sale of products increases responsibility and bookkeeping, but 
the benefit derived by the students in handling larger quantities and 
assisting in business affairs more than justifies methods making this 
necessary. 

LABORATORIES AND EQUIPMENT. 

Rooms in which food-preparation lessons are taught should be 
sanitary in every respect — well warmed, well ventilated, well screened, 
well supplied with hot and cold water, furnished with properly laid 
and finished floors, and well provided with good cooking tables, sinks, 
ranges, and cooking utensils. A kitchen of this type should have 
light and attractive wall finishes, ample blackboard space, good cup- 
boards, and cool storage closets. The seats for the children should be 
comfortable. Exhibit material should be abundant. Since some val- 
uable exhibit material is expensive, it should be arranged so as to be 
conveyed from school to school. 

The large laboratory in which cooking instruction is given becomes 
a place where much is taught with little, but food-preparation train- 
ing should never end in that type of room ; it may begin there. Home 
economics to be at its best must be given within a home. This " prac- 
tice " home should be similar to the best type of home possible for 
the families from which the school children of that neighborhood 
come. It may be a little frame house of but three rooms and a bath ; 
it may be in all respects like a city apartment ; or it may be a house 
with cellar, yard, garden, and chicken pens. Of its kind it must be 
good, sanitary, economical, and in good taste. If it meets all these 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 467 

requirements, it becomes a bond between the home of the child and 
that child's school life. 

School practice houses are in actual use in many cities. Sometimes 
houses have been built, sometimes cottages have been rented, and 
sometimes attics or basements have been modified, which would have 
otherwise been waste room. The "practice" house supplies the 
kitchen of family size, where two or four girls can work with ease 
and effectiveness, where labor-saving devices may be used and labor- 
saving methods practiced. It affords a dining room in which meal 
service can be taught under normal living conditions and where 
standards of simple good taste and cleanliness can be established; 
it makes practical housekeeping instruction possible, and it makes 
the teaching of home nursing practicable. 

Too much of the sewing taught in schools appeals only to the 
girl's love of personal adornment. The " practice " house makes the 
sewing upon house linens, draperies, and bedding possible, and offers 
an opportunity for utilizing the products of classes in rug weaving 
and other handicrafts. 

Laundries. — Since much home laundering must be done in all 
neighborhoods, there should, where practicable, be laundry equip- 
ment in the school. 

Where it is possible to secure teachers who have sufficient tact and 
ability to establish cooperative relationships with the homes of 
children, it may be possible to grant credits for work done in the 
home under the supervision of such a teacher, but full teaching serv- 
ice within the school can not be expected from a teacher so occupied, 
and under no circumstance is it recommended that credit be given 
for unobserved hofrne work. Home practice of school exercises 
should be required and acquired proficiency should be recognized, 
but definite credit for unobserved home work is not conducive to 
either high-grade work or honest reports. 

SUMMARY. 

Adequate provision for training young girls and women necessi- 
tates : 

(1) Strong courses in home economics well organized and adapted 
to the varying needs of the students for whom these courses are de- 
signed. 

(2) An effective organization of an adequate, well-prepared, lib- 
erally paid and not overworked instructional corps. 

(3) Kindly cooperation maintained between principals of schools, 
teachers of academic subjects, local organizations of citizens, busi- 
ness men, and the teaching force interested in home economics in- 
struction. 



468 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

(4) Suitable, satisfactory sanitary rooms, modern and adequate 
equipment, correct adjustment of the business affairs of the depart- 
ment of home economics, and the correlation of the department of 
home economics with the activities of the child in her home. 

PART III. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

INTRODUCTION. 

It is assumed in the offering of the following recommendations 
that it is desired by the citizens of San Francisco that an adequate 
course in home economics be established in their schools — a course 
which will train the daughters of the city in the art of home-making 
and make of them women who are skilled in the use of their hands, 
intelligent in their choice of materials, appreciative of the beauty of 
orderliness and cleanliness, and awake to the financial and social re- 
sponsibilities of women within the home. 

Coast cities, with their large per cent of foreign-born, adult popu- 
lation, have peculiar burdens and responsibilities in transforming 
this great cosmopolitan group into an intelligent American citizen- 
ship. Such transformation can not be hastened unless the home life 
of the foreign workman be touched by American ideas of good living, 
sanitary dwellings, liberal educational opportunities, and social 
responsibilities. In the accomplishment of all these changes, there 
is no more potent means than a strongly organized, well-supported 
department of home economics. 

SUGGESTED COURSES. 

The school curriculum in San Francisco needs to be changed m 
order to make allowance for more time in home-economics subjects 
This recommendation does not necessitate the sacrifice or elimina- 
tion of any of the essential subjects, but' requires the compression of 
some work into fewer hours and the adjustment of some to altered 
conditions. 

New courses in home economics should be established. Sewing 
instruction and lessons giving information concerning simple house- 
keeping processes should be installed in all fifth-grade classes in the 
city of San Francisco. Food and sewing preparation should be 
given in all sixth, seventh, and eighth grade classes. 

The inauguration of required high-school courses in home enonom 
ics is needed in the Girls' High School, the Mission High School, and 
the Commerce High School. Reference has been made hereinbefore 
to the conditions in the Polytechnic High School. It is here recom- 
mended that a one-year course of home economics be required in all 
high schools now established in San Francisco and in all hereafter 
established. 






HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 469 

This one year of required work should be equivalent to one full 
five-hour course; i. e., double periods for practical work and single 
periods for lectures and recitation. It should be a survey course, 
giving instruction in the furnishing and care of the house, planning 
and preparing meals, and in buying clothing, and making dresses 
and hats. 

Advanced elective courses should be established in all high schools 
except those that are distinctly vocational. 

San Francisco needs Saturday afternoon classes in the downtown 
districts for the great number of shop and office girls who are not 
employed at that time. It needs classes for mothers at the high 
schools just after the close of regular afternoon classes. Many women 
can easily attend such classes when they can not leave home at night, 
Night schools are needed for those who work during the day, and 
should bo opened in various parts of the city in well-warmed, well- 
rentilated, and comfortable rooms where good equipment exists. 

The home care of the sick should be taught in the upper grades of 
the elementary schools, with courses more strongly scientific offered 
as electivcs in the high schools. 

Especial stress should be placed upon this phase of home economics 
in the extension courses for employed girls and home makers. 

This instruction, while classified under home-economics teach- 
ing, need not be given by members of that staff, but may, with ad- 
vantage, be given by the school nurses or by members of the city 
board of health. 

Since many men on the Pacific coast spend considerable time in the 
mountains, or at sea, a simple knowledge of food values and food 
preparation is greatly needed by them. Where instruction in camp 
cookery has been offered to boys in other cities, it has been popular 
and of great value. Work of this kind can be given after school 
hours, in night classes, or on Saturdays. It is a type of instruction 
well worth giving during the summer vacation and can easily be cor- 
related with the Boy Scout work done in the city. 

The courses of study in home economics used in San Francisco 
need to be revised, and to be so arranged that adjustment to peculiar 
community needs may become possible. The major courses should be 
so arranged that there may be established a logical sequence of les- 
sons from the first lessons of grade five to the last lesson of the senior 
high school. 

The special courses should be so planned that the peculiar condi- 
tions and needs of the student may be met and a predetermined 
result obtained. 

See page 444, Part II, under Courses of Study, for a more corn 
plete discussion of this subject. 



470 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

SUPERVISION OF HOME ECONOMICS. 1 

Such courses as are above discussed are only possible of adminis- 
tration when there is one capable, responsible head of all home- 
economics instruction in the entire school system ; hence, the director 
of home economics should be given authority and responsibility for 
the conduct of all home-economics instruction in the elementary and 
secondary schools and in classes for employed and adult women. To 
retain a woman of the type needed will necessitate a willingness to 
pay liberally for her services. 

At least four assistant supervisors of home economics are needed 
in San Francisco. None of the above officers should be expected to 
teach except in times of emergency or when necessary to train prop- 
erly a new and inexperienced teacher. 

Clerical help should be supplied, so that no time of experts may be 
wasted upon labor more cheaply done by clerks. 

To secure and retain really capable teachers of home economics, 
adequate salaries must be paid, opportunities for professional prog- 
ress must be made available, and classes must be reduced in number 
of pupils enrolled. Those teachers who are selected for the respon- 
sible positions of instructors of children from foreign homes and 
children needing special instruction should receive greater pay and 
find time to acquaint themselves with the homes and families of the 
pupils. 

1 A questionnaire in regard to the supervision and teaching of home economics was 
sent to 25 home-economics women. Fourteen women answered, of whom 7 were uni- 
versity and college teachers in charge of teacher-training classes ; 4 were supervisors of 
home economics in public-school systems ; 1 was an exsupervisor in a large city ; 1 had 
served as public-school teacher, supervisor, and finally professor in charge of teacher- 
training courses ; and 1 had been a teacher in a noted public-school system. 

1. Should there be one supervisor of all home economics with an adequate number of 

assistant supervisors? Yes, 13. Doubtful, 1. 

2. Should the supervisor nominate or recommend and the board appoint her assistants 

and teachers? Yes, 9. 

3. Should she have full appointive power? Yes, 5. 

4. In what grade should home-economics instruction be introduced— 

Below the fourth grade? Yes, 2. 

Fourth grade? — Yes, 7. 

Fifth grade? Yes, 4. 

Sixth grade? Yes, 1. 

All agreed that handwork of some kind should be given from the first grade up. 

5. Would you introduce home economics in the same grade in all parts of the city? 

Yes, 3. No, 11. , 

6. Would you increase the amount of time devoted to home economics in cosmopolitan 

sections of a city? Yes, 13. No, 1. 

7. Would you recommend cooking in family recipes in the grade classes? Yes, 14. 

8. What do you consider the minimum time that should be given home economics? 

Answers vary from 90 minutes once a week to 90 minutes daily in the grades. All 
agree that three double laboratory periods and two recitation periods are desirable 
in high school. 

9. What is the most desirable size for a class in home economics? 

16 to 20 - Yes » »• 

10 to 15 Yes » 2 - 

12 to 18 Yes > 2 - 

20 to 24 — — Yes > !• 

10. Do you approve of an apartment or practice house as ,an addition to the regular 
home-economic laboratories? Yes, 14. 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 471 



IMPROVEMENT IN EQUIPMENT. 



When knowledge of the part flies play in the spread of disease 
is so general, it seems strange that so many unscreened kitchens 
should be in use in the public schools of San Francisco. All such 
rooms should be screened immediately. In the newly constructed 
buildings, better provision should be made for ventilating the food 
laboratories. The present system of oiling down the dirt on the 
kitchen floors should not be longer permitted, and attractive, clean 
floors should be provided — such floors as the children are taught 
to desire for their own homes. Hereafter, as the new buildings are 
constructed, the supervisor should be consulted both as to the location 
of the home-economics classrooms and as to plans and equipment for 
them. A food preparation room is badly situated when placed in 
the basement; it catches much dust; and dirt, is difficult to ventilate 
properly, and the odors rise from it to other portions of the building. 
A room on the top floor of the building is for all reasons more 
desirable. 



INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL SEWING ROOMS. 



Of the sewing rooms in use in the three intermediate schools, the 
one in the Horace Mann School should be abandoned. It is in every 
way unsuitable and ill equipped. As elsewhere suggested, if this 
school were supplied with a practice house in which to teach home 
making, room could be arranged for the sewing classes. 

The Hamilton School sewing room should be immediately equipped 
with electric lights, for which the building is wired, and enough 
sewing machines should be purchased to make effective teaching 
possible. 

The Crocker sewing room was just occupied at the time of the 
visit of the survey commission and was receiving new machines 
and tables. This particular school receives many children from 
near-by "homes" and should be made more nearly like conditions 
in a good American home, and as far away from institutional con- 
ditions as possible. Small classes, individual instruction, sympa- 
thetic understanding, and homelike conditions are greatly needed 
by these children. A practice house is an immediate need. 

New cooking rooms are most badly needed at Fairmount, Colum- 
bia, Grattan, McKinley, Eochambeau, and Yerba Buena Schools. 
Fairmount has 165 girls in the seventh and eighth grades. These, if 
given as much instruction in home economics as they should receive, 
will require all of the time of one teacher of food preparation and of 
one teacher of sewing. The James Lick pupils are numerous enough 
to use effectively the present equipment were the Fairmount students 
removed to a laboratorv of their own. 



472 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAJN FRANCISCO. 

A similar condition exists in other schools, and when the food 
preparation instruction is extended downward to the sixth grades, 
other laboratories will be needed. 

It is the consensus of opinion that each school should be complete 
in itself and that girls should not be sent from one school to another 
for portions of their instruction. If home economics were taught 
from the fifth grade through the eighth, as it should be, then each 
school woidd fully use one practice house, one food laboratory, and 
one sewing room. Especially would this be true if no class exceeded 
20 pupils, which is agreed to be the maximum/ size possible where 
good instruction is given. 

PRACTICE HOUSES. 

The Spring Valley School, which is in an apartment-house region, 
has an excellent attic or top floor that could, with little expense, be 
partitioned and equipped as a small apartment. In this, instruction 
could be given in house furnishing and home care. The teachers" 
lunches prepared here would make possible preparation of food in 
quantities sufficient to establish standards for the girls doing the 
work. One-half day spent twice a week by a small group of girls 
would give them helpful knowledge of sewing under home conditions, 
care of the house, meal preparation, and laundering of household 
linens. While it is always undesirable for children to travel from 
one school to another, yet for a time this housekeeping center could 
be used by other near-by schools. Since this is a school having very 
large classes in the lower grades and very small classes in the seventh 
and eighth grade rooms, it is suggested that this special instruction 
be open to children of the fifth and sixth as well as the seventh and 
eighth grades. 

The room at Pacific Heights is one of the worst used for cooking 
classes. It is long and narrow and reached by an outside stairway. 
It is over the boys' runway, which means that the floors are cold and 
damp. This room is one of several in which the children have to 
light the hot plates in order to warm their fingers enough to be able 
to write. This school needs a new laboratory for cooking and new 
equipment throughout. This is a locality in which a practice house 
would supply all present needs. 

The Portola School neighborhood is one in which a practice house 
could easily be secured and would be of great service. This is a Jew- 
ish section and one in which the Jewish Council of Women stand 
reacty to lend hearty cooperation, and with their aid such a practice 
hpme could be made of inestimable value to the community. 

' JBernal Heights School, with its old building where the kitchen im- 
peached through the furnace room, should be immediately supplied 
with a small, clean, inexpensive practice house and new laboratories 






HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 473 

for both sewing and food preparation. This is an American neigh- 
borhood where there are small frame dwellings. The practice house 
•should be no better than the best that the people of the neighborhood 
•30uld hope to attain and no more expensively furnished than the 
incomes of the families represented would justify, but it should be 
sanitary, convenient, and attractive. The instruction given should 
be thoroughly practical. 

The Irving Scott School is another one in which there should be 
in immediate adaptation of instruction to the needs of the locality. 
There should be a housekeeping center constructed and housekeeping 
instruction given. In the low seventh grade there were 3 students 
L5 years of age, 4 who were 14, and 10 who were 13 years old. Girls 
of this age should be made proficient in simple home making and 
the school should supply this knowledge. 

The three intermediate schools are all in need of practice houses. 
With these centers in which to begin this work it could be gradually 
developed until, in some form, it reached all the girls in the city, giv- 
ing to each girl some actual knowledge of household administration, 
family meal service, and general housewifery. 

These practice houses or apartments make the service of a noon 
lunch to teachers possible and afford opportunity for the students to 
have actual experience in the choice, purchase, and service of food 
in family-sized quantities. 

A complete housekeeping suite can be provided for the Polytech- 
nic High School with little expense. There is now a large room used 
for teaching home nursing, and adjoining this is a needlessly large 
storeroom. A bathroom is already furnished. One partition and 
one new door would change these into a complete apartment, with 
small kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and dining-living room, and 
make meal service and housekeeping possible. 

In the Girls' High School there are now rooms used as cloak rooms 
that could easily be converted into an apartment and a food labora- 
tory. 

The Mission High School needs immediate provision of rooms 
for sewing, food preparation, and housekeeping. The building now 
used is so overcrowded and the sewing room so insanitary and un- 
suitable that new rooms should be provided in some other build in jr. 

TOWEL SUPPLY. 

Ln order to insure sanitary conditions, all dish towels should be 
furnished by the school and paper towels should be in every labora 
tory. 

There should be suitable basins and towels for the sewing-clas? 
girls. 



474 PTTBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRAN CISCO. 



TEACHERS. 



With the recommended increase of time given to home-economics 
teaching, the present teachers of food preparation will be unable to 
handle all classes in this subject. It is also recommended that classes 
be reduced to 20 students; that new courses be organized for adult 
women and wage-earning women; that boys be given opportunities 
for lessons in camp cookery; and that the retarded girls be given 
especial attention in classes organized for them. All this means in- 
creased teaching force and increased expense, but if the girls of San 
Francisco are to be prepared for the proper discharge of their duties 
when they become wives, mothers, and homemakers, the city must 
pay the price. 

Special teachers should be employed to give instruction in sewing 
to the seventh and eighth grade students and to teach the care of 
the home. If financial conditions make the employment of special 
teachers for all sewing impossible, then the sewing of the fifth 
and sixth grades can be given by room teachers or left to Lux 
students. These grade teachers will need special instructions, and 
to the extent that they assist in this teaching they should be con- 
sidered a part of the home-economics department. Equipment will 
not be necessary for the sewing classes in the fifth and sixth grades 
during the first year. 

This arrangement will leave whatever money is at present avail- 
able to be used for bettering the conditions of cooking laboratories 
and for establishing housekeeping centers and seventh and eighth 
grade sewing rooms. During the year following, sewing rooms 
can be furnished with tables, chairs, and machines, and additional 
special teachers employed for the then seventh and eighth grade 
sewing classes; fifth and sixth grade students can be taught again 
by room teachers or Lux students, and by the third year conditions 
will be enough better so that more special teachers can be employed 
and more housekeeping centers developed, until at the end of the 
five years every child finishing the eighth grade will have become dex- 
terous in handling cooking materials and equipment, skilled in sew- 
ing by hand and machine, and developed in efficiency to an extent 
that will make her able to prepare in reasonable time a plain but pala- 
table meal, make a simple garment, care for a bedroom and sitting 
room, and give first aid to anyone injured or ill. 



SCHOOL LUNCHES. 



The continued use of minute quantities of food is uninteresting to 
the child and has no real educational value. As stated by one suc- 
cessful supervisor of home economics, " after girls have shown pro- 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 475 

ficiency in the small recipe work, unless given more practical work, 
the interest is apt to become lost." " Outside criticism through sale 
of large quantity cooking (family quantity) is very stimulating and 
often puts the girls on their mettle through the responsibility given 
them." 

Yet the other extreme — cooking for sale only — is quite as objec- 
tionable as limiting food work to very small quantities. No class 
should be forced to cook only that which is salable, nor should any 
class be excluded from tasting the product of its work. To adjust 
these matters perfectly is difficult, but not impossible, and effort to 
adjust them should not be abandoned merely because it requires 
extra effort upon the part of the teachers and administrative officers. 

In every school where there is a food-preparation class, there 
should be provision for serving teachers' lunches by the students in 
the cookery classes. This is one of the few ways by which children 
can be taught to cook in family-sized quantities and to serve food 
nicely. That such a lunch is of advantage to the teachers, there can 
be no question. It is not impossible to so arrange class schedules 
that the class needing this instruction can have their work arranged 
to come immediately before the noon hours. 

In certain schools the children are evidently underfed. Underfed 
children do not develop into valuable citizens. It is feasible to havo 
the food preparation classes prepare inexpensive and nourishing 
foods and to have these sold to the children at small cost. The com- 
mission was impressed with the large number of children remain- 
ing around the school at noon, eating unattractive, inadequate 
lunches, or running to the near-by stores. It is quite possible that 
the parents of many of these children are away from home at noon. 
Other cities have found that school cafeterias and noon lunches for 
the children have had a marked effect upon the general health and 
vigor of those so fed. 

It is true that school or teachers' lunches increase the cooking 
teacher's work and responsibility. Such increased work should be 
recognized either by slightly increased pay or shortened hours during 
the week. One afternoon free each week would equalize the burden. 

BUSINESS METHODS. 

The present method of purchasing equipment and supplies is a 
detriment to the home-economics division of the schools. Much 
better arrangement could be made if an expert were consulted and 
her plans accepted. The method of ordering and saying " or just as 
good " is sometimes amusing. A green plate to match a blue set 
may be " just as good," but far from satisfactory. The director of 
home economics should be able to select definite articles and on them 



476 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

receive competitive bids and from the bids make her purchase,, 
whether of food supplies or equipment. There are many times when 
food supplies bought near the schools would be more certainly re- 
ceived than by the present methods of purchase, and at the same time 
serve to establish a friendly relationship between the school and the 
local taxpaying storekeeper. A larger revolving fund is necessary, 
for the children must learn to purchase food supplies and the teachers 
must be able to buy certain perishable food materials in larger 
quantities. 

COOPEEATION WITH OTHEB AGENCIES FOB SOCIAL BETTERMENT. 

Since an effectively organized division of home economics is one 
agency for social betterment in the life of the city, there should be 
developed active cooperation between this work in the schools and 
other agencies for social betterment. The city board of health, 
Nurses' Association, Child Welfare League, Council of Jewish 
Women, Collegiate Alumnae, social settlements, and other organiza- 
tions are all working for improving the living conditions of those 
whose homes are in the city of San Francisco, and their help is needed 
in developing home economics to its fullest community service. 

The material for home-economics instruction can never be included 
within the covers of textbooks as may that of arithmetic or spelling 
or history. The factories, the shops, and the markets of the city, 
even the streets with their newly laid systems for water supply, 
sewage pipes, and gas mains become laboratories for the child in 
home economics. When this is understood by the grocer, the butcher, 
the dry-goods merchant, and the dealer in household furnishings, all 
will be willing to do their share in educating the future house mother 
and will gladly instruct visiting classes in the art of buying to meet 
household needs. When this cooperation between tradesman and 
school is accomplished the education of the child will be greatly 
enriched and in time there will be a favorable reaction upon the trade 
conditions of the city. 

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

1. All courses in home economics need reorganization. Instruc- 
tion in this subject should be given in the fifth grade, and logical 
sequence of lessons should be arranged for the fifth, sixth, seventh, 
and eighth grades, and the first year of the high school. 

2. Sewing should be introduced in all seventh and eighth grade 
classes, and special teachers for this subject should be provided in 
these grades. 

3. Sewing should be given in fifth and sixth grade classes by grade 
teachers or bv Lux School students. Provision should be made for 



HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. 477 

giving grade teachers the preparation needed to enable them to teach 
sewing. 

4. The teaching staff in home economics should be reorganized 
and placed under a director who should have control of home- 
economics work in the public schools of the city and the assistance 
of a group of not less than four competent supervisors. 

5. The teaching staff in home economics should be increased and 
arrangements made for each teacher to have one afternoon each week 
for neighborhood work. 

6. Teachers should be encouraged to take summer-school courses, 
and they should be able to do this without loss of salary. 

7. Centers of training in housekeeping should be provided in a 
few carefully selected districts. 

8. The number of night classes in home economics should be 
increased. Afternoon classes for women and Saturday afternoon 
classes for working girls should bo opened. These courses should 
be open for a quarter, a half, or a full year, as may be found advis- 
able at each place. 

9. Methods of purchasing food supplies should be so changed that 
the director and teachers may make all purchases under general 
rules and regulations. 

10. The director of home economics should purchase all equipment 
after bids are made and accepted. 

11. Architects should consult the director of home economics be- 
fore buildings in which home economics is to be taught are planned. 

12. Provision should be made for permanent exhibits of home- 
economics work and for a traveling exhibit that can be taken from 
school to school. 

13. The sewing rooms in intermediate schools are not adequately 
equipped. Lights should be installed in the sewing room in the 
Hamilton School and temporary quarters for home economics in 
the Horace Mann School should be constructed or, rented at once 
until permanent quarters can be provided. 

14. All food-preparation rooms now in use should be put in clean 
and sanitary condition by screening windows and door openings; 
by refinishing floors with a surface which can be kept clean; by re- 
placing worn and antiquated equipment; by heating damp, cold 
rooms ; and by supplying towels for use of students. 

15. New centers should be equipped for teaching home economics, 
and practice houses should be provided in certain localities. 

16. In the Polytechnic High School a small practice kitchen and 
dining room should be provided by putting in inexpensive parti- 
tions, and classes in household management should be organized. 



478 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

17. In the Mission High School sewing should be taken from the 
insanitary places and sewing rooms. Food-preparation rooms and 
housekeeping rooms should be equipped elsewhere in the building. 

18. In the Girls' High School, rooms on the first floor not now 
used to advantage would make satisfactory rooms for food prepa- 
ration and housekeeping. 

19. In the Commercial High School a sewing room, food-prepara- 
tion room, and housekeeping suite should be equipped. If there 
is insufficient room in the building, a near-by practice suite or house 
should be rented or an inexpensive building should be put up. 1 

20. In all schools now teaching food preparation and in all schools 
hereafter supplied with cooking equipment, teachers' luncheons 
should be prepared. Home-economics teachers should receive credit 
for time spent in the preparation of these luncheons. 

21. The preparation of certain foods in quantities and the sale of 
the same should be permitted. 

22. Cooking and sewing should be scheduled for the same morn- 
ing in the seventh and eighth grade classes, so that work time may 
be exchanged. 

23. Home-economics classes should not contain more than 20 stu- 
dents, and in cosmopolitan and special schools not more than 12 
students. 

24. Courses offered in the several schools should be varied to meet 
the needs of the locality in which given; that is, instruction should 
be adapted to the children's needs. 

25. Cooperation between the home-economics departments of the 
public schools and the homes of the children, the business men of the 
city, and all organizations interested in the social betterment of the 
city of San Francisco should be encouraged. 

»The theory that students may go to the Polytechnic High School does not work, and 
since the laboratories of this school are full, this theory need not be considered. 



Chapter XIII. 

MANUAL TRAINING. 



The quality of the work done in manual training is good, so far as 
it goes. The very limited amount of money available appears to'havo 
been spent to good advantage, and the kinds of work undertaken can 
not be seriously criticized in view of controlling circumstances. 

With the exception of a small amount of handwork in paper, card- 
board, and other inexpensive materials, carried on for the most part 
without supervision or assistance by certain of the more energetic 
and progressive grade teachers, the work in manual training for boys 
in the elementary schools in San Francisco is limited to the seventh 
and eighth years in the regular grammar schools and to the sixth, 
seventh, and eighth years in the three intermediate schools. 

1. TIME ALLOWANCE. 

In January, 1912, a 12-page pamphlet was published, containing 
instructions for the regular classroom teachers in grades 1, 2, and 3, 
for "primary manual work." The time allowed for this work was 
given as one-half hour per week, but it was clearly indicated that 
the work was to be regarded as " busy work," more or less incidental 
to the real business of the school. The results secured under this 
plan are as good as can be expected under the circumstances, but are 
far from being the equivalent of what might be secured through the 
introduction of a systematic and well-organized scheme of handwork. 

In the three intermediate schools sixth-grade boys are given one 
lesson per week, 80 minutes, of manual training ; seventh-grade boys, 
two lessons per week, total 120 minutes; eighth-grade boys, one les- 
son per week, 80 minutes, for 20 weeks, and two lessons per week, 
total 160 minutes, for 20 weeks. This program provides a maximum 
possible aggregate of 213 J hours (less than 27 days of 8 hours 
each,) spread over a period of 3 years or about 9 days per year. 

In the other elementary schools during the seventh and eighth 
years the time allowed for manual training is one lesson per week, 
varying in length from GO to 120 minutes. At an average of 90 min- 
utes per week the aggregate amount of time is 120 hours (15 days 
of 8 hours each), spread over a period of 2 years, or TJ days per year. 

470 



480 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

When it is considered that even these small amounts of time arr 
subject to curtailment through the observance of holidays and othei 
interruptions, it is clear that maximum benefits from manual train 
ing in the elementary schools can not be realized. 

2. LABORATORY EQUIPMENT. 

The equipment for manual training in the sixth, seventh, and 
eighth grades consists of 27 shop centers for woodwork and 2 shops- 
arranged for introductory courses in art metal work. These center? 
are located as follows : 

Shop centers for ivoodwork (27) : Crocker Intermediate School, 2; Hamilton 
Intermediate School, 2; Horace Mann Intermediate School, 2; Bay View School; 
Bryant School; Ethan Allen School; Everett School; Fairmount School ; Frank- 
lin School ; Frank McCoppin School ; Glen Park School ; Hancock School ; Irving 
M. Scott School; John Swett School; Laguna Honda School; Mission Grammai 
School; Monroe School; Oriental School; Pacific Heights School; Roosevelt 
School; Sheridan School; Spring Valley School; Sutro School; Washington 
Grammar School. 

Shop centers for metal work, (2) : Hamilton Intermediate School and Horac* 
Mann Intermediate School. 

The shops are fitted up with workbenches and a selection of tools 
adapted to the kinds of work that may be profitably undertaken with 
classes of boys in the time allowed. Some of the newer shops are 
better lighted and more edequately equipped than are some of the 
older ones. Any line of work that is sufficiently dignified and worth 
while to be undertaken in the schools at public expense should be as- 
signed to quarters that are properly heated and lighted and other- 
wise adapted to conserving the health and comfort of teachers and 
pupils, and that are adequately equipped to accomplish the objects 
in view. These advantages can not be claimed for all of the manual- 
training shops in the San Francisco schools. 

The manual-training staff is to be especially commended for vol- 
untarily organizing several classes for selected groups of boys who 
are 12 years of age or over but arc enrolled below the sixth grade. 
The valuable results of work of this kind with retarded pupils have 
been demonstrated repeatedly. This type of work should not only 
be encouraged and recognized, as recommended by the supervisor of 
manual training, but facilities should be provided which will make 
possible substantial extensions. 

The supervisor of manual training reports that a motor and wood- 
turning speed lathe have recently been ordered for one of the inter- 
mediate-school shops. San Francisco has been very backward in 
providing even a minimum of power machinery for each important 
shop center. 



MANUAL TKAINING. 481 

3. THE COURSE OF STUDY. 

The course of study, especially in the three intermediate schools, 
gives some attention to the construction of small working models of 
machines and transportation units, such as crane, pile driver, steam 
shovel, flat car, semaphore. For this part of the work a considerable 
variety of materials and processes is necessary, arid considerable in- 
dividual ingenuity is developed. For the most part, however, the 
projects undertaken consist of series of small objects for personal or 
domestic use, which call for a more or less carefully graduated se- 
quence of tool processes. The aim in all cases is a useful product, 
and no unnecessary time appears to be spent upon exercise pieces 
merely for the sake of practice. Nevertheless, if more time could be 
given to the work some of the more inconsequential models might 
be supplanted by others that would prove more interesting, as well 
as profitable; 

A statement as to the aims and purposes of manual training, pre- 
pared by the supervisor, emphasizes the introduction to fundamental 
tools and processes as applied to woodwork. The effort is made to 
train pupils in habits of order, neatness, industry, perseverance, and 
economy. The aim is to present the work in such a way as to incul- 
cate appreciation of good workmanship, construction, and design; 
to develop social feelings and relations by encouraging projects of 
value to home and school; to encourage the spirit of initiative, origi- 
nality, and experimentation by permitting a wide latitude in selec- 
tion of individual and personal projects. The use of other materials 
than wood is encouraged so far as possible. 

These aims, which relate chiefly to the place of manual training in 
general education, are realized in most of the shops as well as can be 
expected under existing conditions. Provided unwarranted expec- 
tations are not entertained with respect to the extent to which the 
values of this training are carried over into other studies or other 
departments of life, these are commendable aims for manual training 
in the elementary school. But these aims are not sufficient. The de- 
partment should be encouraged to look beyond these aims, at least for 
certain groups of pupils, and should be provided with better facili- 
ties and working conditions. 

To a limited extent the prevocaticnal aim receives some theoretical 
consideration in the intermediate schools, but not much more is 
accomplished in this direction here than in other schools. More 
flexibility, freedom of action, and willingness to experiment are 
necessary before notable results along this line can be expected. 
93815—17 33 



482 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

4. ORGANIZATION. 

The manual-training department consists of 1 supervisor, respon- 
sible to the superintendent of schools, and 17 men teachers. With 
the exception noted, instruction is limited to woodworking, mechani- 
cal drawing, and a few lessons in elementary metal work in copper 
and brass. The grades from which pupils are received are the eighth, 
the seventh, and the sixth (in the three intermediate schools), in 
addition to a few irregular classes of retarded pupils. The average 
salary of manual-training teachers in San Francisco is $1,260 for 
the school year of approximately 40 weeks. 

A part of the work in mechanical drawing is taught by women 
teachers ; who are not under the direction of the supervisor of manual 
training. Some of this work is more or less unrelated to the condi- 
tions of practical shopwork in respect to content, method of teaching, 
and conception of purpose. 

The elementary handwork in the primary grades is taught by the 
regular grade teachers, without supervision or assistance except such 
as an interested principal may give. The supervisor of manual train- 
ing has no responsibility for this work nor for any manual training 
in the high schools. 

i 5. THE MANUAL-TRAINING STAFF. 

The following study is based upon information supplied by the 
members of the staff. 

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE. 

Of the 18 members of the staff 4 report having had no special 
schooling above high-school grade in preparation for their work of 
teaching. Of the remaining 14, 10 report having had some normal- 
school training, 8 having had two years or more ; 7 have had some 
college or university work, 4 being graduates and 1 a postgraduate 
student; 4 have studied one or more years each at a technical or 
engineering school. 

The 18 members of the staff have taught on an average 8.7 years 
each. Further study of the individual figures, however, shows two 
well-defined groups: (1) Eight men have had an average experience 
of 16 years each; (2) 8 men have had an average experience of 
2.1 years each. The 2 remaining individuals have had an average 
of 6 years' experience each. 

The staff, therefore, is made up of about equal parts of (1) experi- 
enced teachers who entered the service before the most significant 
current tendencies in manual-arts education were fully developed, 
who were, for the most part, without special professional prepara- 



MANUAL TBAINING. 483 

\ 

tion, and who, as appears hereafter, have not as a body made special 
effort to keep abreast of educational developments in their chosen 
field; and (2) a group of relatively inexperienced teachers, whose 
special training is not so extensive as might be demanded under a 
more liberal salary schedule, but who may be reasonably expected 
to represent the newer point of view in education. Like all similar 
generalizations, this must not be regarded as rigidly conclusive, for 
some of the most progressive members of the staff are to be found 
among those of mature experience, and not all of the younger 
members have yet demonstrated a thorough grasp of their work. 

EXPERIENCE IN OTHER OCCUPATIONS. 

Some indication of the latent possibilities for the development of 
vocational courses is disclosed by the record of experience in occu- 
pations other than teaching which members of the manual-training 
staff have had. Only 3 of the 18 men report no experience in other 
occupations, 7 have had experience in one other occupation, 4 in two 
occupations, 1 in three occupations, and 3 in four occupations other 
than teaching. The average number of years of experience in other 
occupations reported by 15 teachers is 10. The complete list includes 
23 different occupations, and the length of time ranges from one- 
half year to 20 years. The occupations, with the number of indi- 
viduals by whom reported, is as follows : 

Assaying, 1; blacksmith, 1; bookkeeper, 1; bridge construction, 1; building 
construction, 3; business promoter, 1; business (not specified), 1; cabinetmaker, 
2; carpenter, 4; contracting and real estate, 1; draftsman, 2; machinist, 1; 
manufacturing jeweler, 1 ; mason, 1 ; millman, 1 ; newspaper work, 1 ; pattern- 
maker, 1; plasterer, 1; salesman, 1; stationery and book store, 1; steam engi- 
neer. 1; trade (not specified), 1; wireless-telegraph operator, 1. 

TRAINING SINCE ENTERING THE SERVICE. 

Evidently conditions in the San Francisco schools do not afford 
much stimulus or encouragement to professional growth on the part 
of teachers while in service. In response to the question, " What 
courses have you taken in normal school, college, university, corre- 
spondence schools, etc., for the purpose of improving your work, since 
entering the service of the San Francisco schools? " 10 of the 18 
members of the manual-training staff report no such courses. Of the 
remaining 8, 1 has spent a year in a State normal school, 2 have 
taken summer-school courses, 2 have taken private lessons, 4 have 
taken correspondence courses, 2 have attended evening school, 1 
ottended a university extension course of lectures, and 1 reports 
home study. It must be admitted that this is not an impressive 
showing for a staff of 18 teachers reporting approximately an 



484 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

average of 9 years' experience in a special subject which has been 
passing through an evolution truly remarkable. The importance 
of constant study and research in any line of educational work as 
a means of personal growth can scarcely be overemphasized. In 
the field of the manual arts the disposition to study the new problem? 
and to endeavor to keep abreast of progress is indispensable. 

PROFESSIONAL READING. 

tn common with all the members of the teaching force in San 
Francisco the manual-training teachers were requested to " mention 
the titles of a few of the most important books on education which 
you have read during the past two years." In response to this 
request, 28 different books were reported as having been read by 
members of the manual-training staff. The titles of books reported, 
arranged in two groups, with the number of teachers by whom 
read, are as follows : 

/. Books on general educational topics: 

McMurry — How to Study, 1. 

Smith — Teaching Mathematics, 1. 
[ Charters — Methods of Teaching, 1 

Wiindt — Psychology, 1. 
1 Spencer — Education, 1. 

Kipling — The Day's Work, 1. 

Chancellor — School Administration, 1 

Johnson — Plays and Gaines, 1. 

Sisson — Essentials of Character, 1. 

Hugh — Moral Education, 1. 
8. Books on the manual arts, vocational education, and related topic*: 

Bloomfield — Youth, School, and Vocation, 1. 
Vocational Guidance of Youth, 2. 
Readings in Vocational Guidance, 1. 

Puffer — Vocational Guidance, 1. 

Smith— Education of All the Children of All the People, l 

Dewey — School and Society, 3. 

Ritchey — Course in Woodworking, 2. 

King — Woodwork and Carpentry, 1. 

Rudd— Cabinetmaking and Designing, 1. 

Leake— Industrial Education, 2. 

Bachelder — Design in Theory and Practice, 1. 
Principles of Design, 1. 

Pabst — Handwork Instruction for Boys, 1. 

Crawshaw— Manual Arts for Vocational Ends, i 

Noyes— Design and Construction in W r ood, 1. 
Wood and Forest, 1. 

Griffith — Correlated Courses, 1. 
(Author not known) — Period Styles, 1. 
This does not represent a wide range of reading for 18 educator*. 
nor can it be considered noteworthy concentration for 18 specialists 
A studv of the lists gives additional ground for the conclusion that 



MANUAL TKAINTNG. 485 

there has been no systematic guidance or stimulus to the professional 
growth of the members of the staff. Of the 18 members, 7 report no 
educational books read during two years; 2 teachers report having 
read one book each; 3 teachers, two books each; 4 teachers, three 
books each ; 1 teacher, four books ; and 1 teacher, 9 books. The total 
Qumber of books read during the two years, including duplications, 
is 33, an average of 3 books each for the 11 teachers who report 
some reading, or less than 2 for each of the 18 members of the staff. 
Further, only 7 of the 18 teachers report having read any of the 
books in the second list, which contains the titles of those which are 
more or less closely related to the special problems of the department. 
The teachers were also asked "What educational periodicals do 
you read regularly ? " The replies to this question indicate a more 
commendable attitude of professional alertness and progressiveness. 
Of the 18 teachers, only 2 report the regular reading of 1 maga- 
zine only ; 4 teachers read 2 magazines ; 5 teachers read 3 magazines ; 
4 teachers read 4 magazines; 1 teacher read 5 magazines; and 2 
teachers read G magazines. The aggregate number of magazines 
read, including duplications, is 58, an average of more than 3 per 
teacher. The titles include 15 different magazines and are given 
below arranged in two lists, together with the number of teachers by 
whom read: 

l. General educational periodicals: 

National Geographic Magazine, 6. 

School and Society, 1. 

Sierra Educational News, 7. 

Teachers College Record, 1. 

Western Journal of Education, 1. 
i. Special or technical educational periodicals: 

Craftsman, 5 

Forest Review, 1. 

Furniture Manufacturer and Artisan. 4, 

Industrial Arts Magazine, 4. 

Manual Training Magazine, 11. 

Popular Mechanics, 5. 

Popular Science Monthly, 3. 

School Arts Magazine, C. 

Scientific American, 2. 

Technical World, 1. 

Still further light is thrown on the question of the professional 
activities of the members of the manual-training staff by noting 
the reported memberships in educational organizations. Of the 18 
teachers, 5 report that they are not members of any educational 
organization; 7 are members of 1 organization; 2 are members of 
2 organizations, 2 arc members of 3 organizations; 1 is connected 
with 4 different organizations: and 1 is connected with 6 dif- 



486 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

ferent organizations. The aggregate number of memberships, in- 
cluding duplications, is 2G, an average of two for each of the 13 
teachers who report memberships. The list includes eight different 
organizations, and with the number of teachers reporting member- 
ship in each is as follows : 

National Education Association, 3. 

California State Teachers' Association, 9. 

California Council of Education, 1. 

California Schoolmasters' Club, 3. 

California Association of Applied Arts and Sciences, 3. 

Scholia Club, 1. 

Council No. 1 of Men Teachers, 5. 

California Vocational Guidance Association, 1. 

RECOMMENDATIONS OFFEEED BY THE STAFF. 

That some members at least of the manual-training staff have 
given thoughtful consideration to the possibility of improvement in 
the quality of their work is indicated by the response to the request 
for suggestions as to ways in which the work of the department 
might be improved. Of the 18 members of the staff, 2 offered no 
suggestions. The remaining 16 men offered a total of 60 recom- 
mendations, an average of nearly 4 apiece. The list of recommenda- 
tions, with the number of persons by whom made, is as follows: 

I. Relating to, organization and administration (31) : 

1. Increased time allowance for the manual arts, G. 

2. Extension of manual-arts work through the lower grades, 5. 

3. Smaller classes, 5. 

4. Better support from class teachers and principals, 4. 

5. Higher salaries, 3. 

6. Better classification of pupils according to ability to do the work, 2. 

7. More frequent shop periods (now too far apart), 1. 

8. Mechanical drawing taught by special teachers or by shop teachers, 1. 

9. Mechanical drawing taught elsewhere than in the shop, 1. 

10. School credit for manual training on a more equitable basis, 1. 

11. More efficient examination of qualifications of shop teachers, 1. 

12. Easier access to books and magazines relating to the work, 1. 

II. Relating to course of study and mctJwds (9) : 

1. Introduction of materials and processes other than woodwork, 3. 

2. A progressive and more practical course of study, 3. 

3. Supervision which will inspire boys through actual demonstrations, 1. 

4. More emphasis on good design, 1. 

5. Opportunity for more individual instruction, 1. 

///. Relating to physical condition in the shops (20) : 

1. More and better equipment, 8. 

2. More liberal supply of materials, 6. 

3. Shop laboratories larger and better lighted, 5. 

4. Assistance in care and sharpening of tools, 1. * 
No recommendations offered, 2. 



MANUAL TRAINING. 487 

Analysis of the suggestions offered shows that they may be grouped 
conveniently under three heads, relating to improvements in (1) 
organization and administration, (2) course of study and methods, 
(3) physical conditions. The weight of opinion on the part of the 
teachers themselves with respect to needed improvements in the plan 
of organization as it now exists, and in the actual working conditions 
that prevail in the shops, is impressive, and should appeal to the 
authorities as conclusive evidence that there has been neglect in not 
making use of the expert knowledge available within the school sys- 
tem. Practically every suggestion in the list is worthy of serious 
consideration. 

SUMMARY. 

The most significant impressions produced by this study of the 
manual-training staff may be briefly summarized as follows: (1) As 
is to be expected, there is a wide range of individual qualifications in 
respect to prof essional training and experience ; nevertheless the 
staff represents two well-defined groups, including the older and the 
newer points of view, which, under efficient leadership, should make 
for that much-to-bc-desired balance between the conservatism of 
experience and the enthusiasm of ambition. (2) In general, the 
staff is not characterized by breadth or thoroughness of special pro- 
fessional preparation for the work in manual training, or for the 
newly developing problems of vocational education and vocational 
guidance so closely related to the interests of this department. (3) 
With due allowance for individual merit, the staff as a whole is not 
conspicuous for professional zeal or active interest in the special 
educational problems of the department. (4) Collectively, the mem- 
bers of the staff represent a considerable fund of hitherto unutilized 
resources in practical experience in a variety of occupations, which 
may be drawn upon in the development of a program for vocational 
education and vocational guidance of the youth of San Francisco. 
(5) The character and extent of the suggestions looking toward the 
improvement of the work of the department, offered by the staff 
when given an opportunity, appear to fortify the conclusion that the 
relative lack of progressiveness and professional spirit noted is prob- 
ably due in large part to working conditions within the system, which 
do c not provide that encouragement to growth which is the reasonable 
duty of educational leadership. 

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

2. Time allotment. — The first need of the manual-training work in 
San Francisco is a conviction on the part of those in authority of the 
importance of the manual arts in education and a recognition of the 



488 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

necessity for adequate provision for the work in all public elementary 
and high schools. The reorganization of the course of study recom 
mended in other sections of this report is not an original or novel 
suggestion, but is in line with educational tendencies that have been 
clearly defined in this country for some years past. Such reorganiza- 
tion, when put into effect, will make possible the much-needed in- 
creased allotments of time for the manual arts. 

In grades 1 to G not less than one-tenth to one-eighth of the present 
school time should be set aside for elementary handwork — that is. 
from two to three hours per week, divided up into from three to five 
periods according to program conditions. 

In grades 7 and 8 (and 9, if the junior high-school plan be 
adopted) the manual arts should receive not less than one-fifth to 
one- fourth of the present school time, or five to seven hours weekly. 
The program should be flexible enough to provide an even larger pro- 
portion of time for this purpose, up to one-third or one-half, for 
groups of selected pupils under special conditions on an elective 
basis. 

In all the high schools elective courses should be offered, in which 
the amounts of time assigned to the manual arts vary from none at 
all to one-half of the total school time, or even three-fourths for 
special groups. For further explanation, see the discussion of voca- 
tional courses elsewhere. 

2. Extension of scope. — Steps should be taken immediately looking 
toward the extension of the work in the manual arts downward 
through all the grades in all the elementary schools and upward in 
all the high schools. The objective should be a well-organized and 
well-articulated scheme of handwork running through the entire 
system, incorporating the best features applicable to local conditions 
that have been developed by progressive cities, with lines of work of 
sufficient variety and scope to meet the approval of modern educa- 
tional thought, and adapted to the capacities and needs of children 
at successive stages of grow T th. The work should connect up inti- 
mately and efficiently with the activities of the kindergarten and 
the training of the home, on the one side, and with the practical 
demands and actual conditions of the life careers into which young 
people go when they leave school, on the other. 

S. New aims. — With the extension of the work throughout the 
entire system, and with more liberal allotments of time, there should 
be something more than merely an elaboration or multiplication of 
what is being done on the present basis. It should be expected that 
the entire school system will be affected by a new point of view, and 
in the manual-arts work there should become evident the inspiration 
of new aims and purposes. 



MANUAL TKAINING. 489 

The service rendered to children by the manual arts should not be 
limited exclusively to its contribution to general education even in 
the elementary school, though this may properly be the primary mo- 
tive. So long as children are permitted to abandon permanently 
their birthright of school privileges at the immature age of 14 or 
even 16 years there can be no adequate defense of an educational 
policy that neglects the responsibility of offering in the school some 
rational preparation for the life struggle which these children are 
allowed to enter. At 14 or 16 years of age boys and girls are not 
qualified to appreciate the significance of the deprivation, or the se- 
verity of the handicap upon their future, involved in a termination 
of the period of formal schooling. 

Unquestionably, therefore, beginning at the latest with the seventh 
year of school, the prevocational aim for most children, and the vo- 
cational aim for some children, should be given definite recognition 
in the public schools. While the influence of these aims should not 
be limited to the work in the manual arts, it is here that the most 
favorable conditions will be found for its expression and develop- 
ment. 

By " prevocational aim " is understood the attempt to assist boys 
and girls to study their own capacities and the possibilities of their 
environment, to " find themselves," and to make an intelligent choice 
at the right time of a future career based upon some adequate under- 
standing of these considerations, instead of drifting helplessly into 
whatever chance and ignorance may offer. 

The " vocational aim " will be served by any course or line of 
activity which may be carried on in the school or which may be 
encouraged elsewhere under the supervision of the school that as- 
sists boys and girls to make some progress in preparation for an oc- 
cupation that is definitely looked forward to. 

If. Nero lines of work. — If the increased allotment of time is to be 
justified, and if the proposed aims are to be realized even in part, 
the introduction of a greater variety in shop equipment, processes, 
and materials is essential. 

The work in the first four years should be adapted as closely as 
possible to the requirements of the reorganized course of study and 
should involve the manipulation of materials and processes in paper 
and cardboard, textiles, basketry, weaving, and drawing. Begin- 
ning with the fifth year the lines of work may well diverge with the 
varying interests of boys and girls, and for the boys should include 
opportunities for work in thin wood and elementary processes in 
bookbinding, printing, clay, cement, plaster, and such other groups 
as further study of conditions may indicate. In the seventh and 
eighth years the boys should carry still further the problems in 
printing and bookbinding, and to these should be added suitable 
work in copper, brass, iron, leather, cement and concrete, electricity, 



490 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

bench work in wood, and mechanical drawing. The woodwork might 
well include some simple framing and carpentry. All of the shop- 
work should be made as practical as possible. The corresponding 
work for girls is discussed elsewhere in this report. 

More systematic and determined effort should be made to study 
and provide for the needs of special groups of children, such as those 
who are for any reason retarded in physical or intellectual develop- 
ment or in their progress through the grades. 

With the increase in amount of time available, it will be possible 
to devote a sufficient amount of attention to mechanical drawing in 
the elementary schools to insure to all boys the ability to make and 
read simple working drawings and to provide for a few an introduc- 
tion to the elements of architectural or machine drafting. All of 
the mechanical drawing should be practical in character and in 
accordance with approved standards of draftsmanship. This work 
should be under the direction of the supervisor of manual training 
and taught by shop teachers or by teachers who are familiar with 
shop conditions and who keep in close contact with the school 
shopwork. 

5. Equipment. — The equipment and arrangement of the shops un- 
der the new regime will need to be somewhat different from those of 
the usual shop center at present. The type of shop that has existed 
in the past has developed under the influence of traditional school 
ideals of class units and rigid programs, and while there has been 
much more freedom and flexibility in the shop than in the usual 
classroom, it has become evident that there is need of still further 
provision for these desirable conditions. 

The new type of shop is conceived of as a laboratory in which real 
problems may be considered and solved by the pupils. Such problems 
may frequently involve other processes than those found in wood- 
working; consequently it is desirable to provide equipment in suffi- 
cient variety to prevent the work from being confined to too narrow 
lines. The transformation in shops and equipment should be brought 
about gradually, as teachers prepare themselves for dealing with the 
new conditions, since nothing would be gained by adding tools or 
materials which teachers are not qualified to use advantageously and 
efficiently. 

It is not necessary for the accomplishment of the ends in view 
that all of the desired lines of work be carried on in any one shop, 
though a considerable variety of work may be thus provided for. 
The object in view is to provide pupils with as wide a range of useful 
experiences as may be practicable, and undoubtedly this may be ac- 
complished in various ways. 

6. Course of study. — It will be noted that the suggestions made 
herein contemplate changes more radical than merely the addition 



MANUAL TKAINING. 491 

of new kinds of manipulative processes with new materials. It is 
intended that more emphasis shall be placed upon problems in the 
manual arts which require constructive thought on the part of the 
pupil and which stimulate the development of ingenuity and initia- 
tive in dealing with new situations, which insure the formation of 
correct habits of technic and craftsmanship, and which provide 
situations demanding cooperative effort in which the students work 
together in groups on a single project. Too often school training 
has tended to repress independence and resourcefulness in the child 
and to discourage the cooperative spirit, through the teacher's pre- 
liminary analysis of processes and through refinement in details of 
directions for procedure. These faults in method have often neces- 
sarily resulted from the teacher being overburdened with responsi- 
bility for too many pupils, and from the utterly inadequate amount of 
time available. 

To conduct a manual-training department on the basis of provid- 
ing problems which are to be solved by the pupils instead of by the 
teacher is much more difficult than the outlining of "courses" of 
models or exercises. Nevertheless, it is an ideal toward which public- 
school work in the manual arts is tending, and as an ideal it has the 
advantage of representing a type of work that involves the maximum 
amount of interest and profit for both teacher and pupil. 

At the same time, supervisor and instructor must not be permitted 
to lose sight of the value, to both teacher and pupil, of careful analy- 
sis of every individual problem, and of definite and orderly progres- 
sion in the year's work. Too much enthusiasm for the freedom and 
fascination of the " practical-problem " method of work, unrestrained 
by insistence upon thoughtful analysis and systematic procedure, can 
not be expected to produce results of educational value commensurate 
with the amount of energy displayed. The best teachers will be 
found to depend much on the analysis of each problem into its suc- 
cessive steps, and a study of the history of manual training will show 
that the content value, or educational value, comes only after such 
analysis has been made, or in the process of making it. For this rea- 
son, successful teachers endeavor to have the work of analyzing the 
problem done by the pupil so far as possible, though they recognize 
that in the earlier stages it must necessarily be done by the teacher. 

7. Supervision. — The adoption of the recommendations made 
herein will involve a new type of supervision as well as a new type 
of teaching. Not only will many of the regular grade teachers need 
practical assistance and sympathetic guidance in the introduction 
of lines of work for which they have had no systematic preparation, 
but some even of the shop teachers will feel the need of supplementing 
their training in various particulars. The new supervision will nec- 
essarily take the form of training for teachers in service, directing 



492 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

their reading and study, providing for conferences to deal with spe- 
cial problems, demonstration lessons, and other specific helps. It 
should also insure continuous and systematic study of the work of 
the department, including its relation to other departments of the 
school system, with the view to maintaining a progressive spirit and 
increased efficiency. 

In order to secure satisfactory results, provision should be made, 
for a limited period, for special study classes for teachers daring 
school hours. 

S. Organization. — It is recommended that under one deputy super- 
intendent of schools there shall be centered responsibility for all 
activities in the manual arts (drawing and design, elementary hand- 
work, homo economics, shopwork, mechanical drawing), vocational 
guidance, and vocational education in elementary and high schools. 
Under the immediate direction of this deputy superintendent, who 
should have had special training and experience for the work, there 
should be grouped a staff of specially qualified directors of special 
subjects, including at least the following: (a) Fine arts — free-hand 
drawing and design; (b) home economics; (c) manual training; 
(d) vocational education, including vocational guidance. Each of 
these supervisors should be responsible for the work specified in the 
upper grades and the high schools. All of these lines of work, so 
far as they are carried on in grades 1 to 4, should be placed under the 
direction of a capable supervisor of primary grades. 

In certain cases assistants to these supervisors will be required, to 
divide the work upon some practicable basis, either (a) horizon- 
tally, as an assistant supervisor of manual training for grades 5 to 8, 
and another for the high schools; or (b) vertically, as an assistant 
supervisor of cooking and food work, and another for sewing and 
textiles; or (c) territorially, dividing the city into two or more dis- 
tricts, with an assistant supervisor for a given line of work responsible 
for the activities in each district. 

Provision should be made for the payment of higher salaries than 
those that now prevail for teachers and supervisors of the special 
subjects. Other cities have in the past attracted capable and progres- 
sive teachers away from San Francisco by offering more remunera- 
tion and better working conditions, and will continue to do so, so 
long as existing schedules are maintained. 

Promotion should be based on performance of meritorious service 
rather than on length of service. Teachers should be expected to 
give evidence of growth in service, and of continuous study of the 
many problems connected with the newer conceptions and ideals of 
education which are now in process of evolution, and in the develop- 
ment of which their special contributions are so much needed. 



Chapter XIV. 

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 



The fact that there is a real demand for vocational education in 
San Francisco is shown by the existence of not fewer than 164 
schools not under the control of the city school system, of which 
number at least 106 offer courses that are more or less definitely 
vocational in character. (See Table 155.) The existence of a large 
number of privately managed schools is in itself a reflection on the 
adequacy and efficiency of a public-school system. The fact that 
there is a large number of private vocational schools not only shows 
a neglect of important groups of educational needs, but raises the 
question of the consequences of permitting private enterprise to en- 
gage in the business of supplying these needs. 

Table 155. — Educational institutions in San Francisco not under the control 
of the city public-school system. 

1. GENERAL 

Note. — In this list are Included schools offering courses the primary object of whlcb »» 
general education. 

1. Academy of the Immaculate Conception, 1212 Guerrero Street. 

2. Academy of the Sacred Heart, 2700 Jackson Street. 

3. Anglo-Japanese Training School, 1359-63 Pine Street. 

4. Ashbury Heights Academy, 8S1 Ashbury Street. 

5. Baldwin's (Miss) Montessori School, 3445 Washington Street. 

6. Bible College, 1975 Post Street. 

7. Brackett's Academy, 1221 Cole Street. 

8. Briscoe College, 759 Howard Street. 

9. California Academy of Sciences (museum and lectures), Golden Gate Park. 

10. Chinese Catholic Mission for Children, 1195 Stockton Street. 

11. College of Notre Dame, 345 Dolores Street. 

12. Convent of the Holy Name (St. Joseph's Girls' School), Howard and Tenth 

Streets. 

13. Convent of the Immaculate Conception, Guerrero and Twenty-fourth Streets. 
L4. Dennis College, 908 Market Street. 

15. Hamlin School, 2230 Pacific Avenue. 

16. Kingdom of Heaven School, 1165 Golden Gate Avenue. 

17. Kramer School, 701 Seventh Avenue. 

18. Lyceum Preparatory School, Phelan Building. 

19. Mechanics Institute (library and lectures), 55 Post Street. 

20. Mission Dolores Parish School. Sixteenth and Church Streets. 

493 



494 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

21. Montessori Open-air School, 3570 California Street. 

22. Outdoor School, Nineteenth Avenue and Wawona Street. 

23. Pacific-English Preparatory School, SG4 Pacific Building. 

24. Potter School for Boys, 1S27 Pacific Avenue. 

25. Presentation Convent, 401 Baker Street. 
2G. Presentation Convent, 1404 Mason Street. 

27. Randall School, Shreve Building. 

28. Raymond School, 2700 California Street. 

29. Sacred Heart College, Ellis and Franklin Streets. 

30. Sacred Heart School, 735 Fell Street. 

31. Sacred Heart School, 040 Hayes Street. 

32. San Francisco University School for Boys, California and Buchanan Streets. 

33. Sisters of the Presentation School, 2S1 Masonic Street. 

34. St. Agnes Presentation Academy, 545 Ashbury Street. 

35. St. Anthony's Catholic School, 3215 Army Street. 

36. St. Boniface's Parochial School, 133 Golden Gate Avenue. 

37. St. Brigid's School, Broadway and Van Ness Avenue. 

38. St. Francis Convent, Central Avenue and Waller Street. 

39. St. Francis Girls' Directory, Buena Vista and Central Avenues. 

40. St. Francis Presentation Convent, Pacific and Mason Streets. 

41. St. Francis School for Boys, Sixteenth and Church Streets. 

42. St. Ignatius High School, 2211 Hayes Street. 

43. St. James Catholic School, Fair Oaks and Twenty-third Streets. 

44. St. John's German and English Day School, 3130 Twenty-second Street. 

45. St. John's Parochial School, Sixty-first and St. Mary's Streets. 

46. St. Joseph's School, Devisadero and Greenwich Streets. 

47. St. Joseph's Boys' School, 250 Tenth Street. 

48. St. Paul's School, Twenty-ninth and Church Streets. 

49. St. Paulus School, Gough and Eddy Streets. 

50. St. Peter's Convent School, Alabama and Twenty-fourth Streets. 

51. St. Peter's Boys' School, Alabama Street, between Twenty-fourth and 

Twenty-fifth Streets. 

52. St. Rose Academy, Pierce and Pine Streets. 

53. St. Theresa's Parochial School, Nineteenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. 

54. Star of the Sea Convent, 252 Tenth Avenue. 

55. Star of the Sea School, Ninth Avenue and Geary Street. 

56. Trinity School, 846 Stanyan Street. 

57. West's (Miss) School, 126 Twentieth Avenue. 

58. Zion's Day School. A Street and Ninth Avenue. 

2. SPECIAL. 

Note. — In this list are included schools offering various types of special courses, such as 
special training in languages, home making, arts, music, fine arts, technical and pro- 
fessional courses. Each of these institutions offers one or more courses with the ex- 
pectation that the training given will have vocational value for students who enroll with 
that object in view. 

1. American School of Music, 988 Hayes Street. 

2. Arrilaga Musical College, 2315 Jackson Street. 

3. Bassett Institute (for cure of speech defects), Nevada Bank Building. 

4. Beringer Conservatory of Music, 926 Pierce Street. 

5. Best's Art School, 1625 California Street. 

6. Bon Ton School of Millinery, 908 Market Street. 

7. Burke's (Miss) School, 2310 Broderick Street. 

8. Business Men's Law College, Mills Building. 

9. California Academv of Dramatic Art. 376 Sutter Street. 






VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 495 

10. California Barber College, 145 Third Street. 

11. California Chiropractic College, Grant Building. 

12. California College of Chiropody, 9S0 McAllister Street. 

13. California College of Optometry, 948 Market Street. 

14. California College and Conservatory of Music, 1509 Gough Street. 

15. California School of Fine Arts, California and Mason Streets. 

16. California School of Hairdressing, 9G7 Market Street. 

17. California School of Mechanical Arts, Sixteenth and Utah Streets. 

18. Carpenter School of Shorthand, Typing and Spanish, CS Post Street. 

19. Chicago Business College, 241G Mission Street. 

20. Christensen's Navigation School, 268 Market Street. 

21. Christian Brothers College, 925 Franklin Street. 

22. Christofferson Aircraft Manufacturing Co. School, Redwood City. 

23. Church Divinity School, 1051 Taylor Street. 

24. Cogswell's Polytechnic College, Twenty-sixth and Folsom Streets. 

25. College of Accounting, 1930 Van Ness Avenue. 

26. College of Law, Grant Building. 

27. College of Physicians and Surgeons, 344 Fourteenth Street. 

28. Cortina Academy of Languages, Hearst Building, Market and Third Streets. 

29. Cotton Studio of Expression, 101 Callaghan Building. 

30. Drew's Coaching School, 2901 California Street. 

81. Dudley's Business College, Sixteenth, near Valencia Street. 

32. Ecole Parisienne, 1709 Gary Street. 

33. Expert Shorthand School, Chronicle Building. 

34. Gallagher-Marsh Business College, 1256 Market Street. 

35. Genns Academy of Music, 2312 Clay Street. 

36. George School of Languages (Berlitz system), 2531 Washington Street. 
87. Gerson Dramatic School, 216 McAllister Street. 

38. Gordon-Detwiler Institute, Kohler and Chase Building. 

39. Gregory School of Music, 1455 Sacramento Street. 

40. Hahnemann Medical College of the Pacific, Sacramento and Maple Streets. 

41. Hastings College of Law, Pacific Building. 

42. Heald's Engineering and Automobile School, 1220 Post Street. 

43. Heald's Business College, 1215 Van Ness Avenue. 

44. Hiles Watchmaking and Engraving School, 717 Market Street. 

45. Hyams Penmanship and Engrossing School, 610 Pacific Building. 

46. International Correspondence Schools, Humboldt Bank Building. 

47. Kellar-F6x Conservatory of Music, 62 Baker Street. 

48. Kent Law School, Phelan Building. 

49. Larcher and Moe School of Languages, 162 Post Street. 

50. Larcher School, 180 Sutter Street. 

51. La Salle Extension University, Hearst Building. 

52. Lick School of Mechanical Arts, Sixteenth and Utah Streets. 

53. Lux School of Industrial Training, Seventeenth and Hampshire Streets. 

54. McDowell School of Dressmaking and Millinery, 121 Geary Street. 

55. Merrill-Miller Business College, 733 Fillmore Street. 

56. Modern School of Business and Correspondence, 525 Market Street. 

57. Moler Barber School, 710 Howard Street. 

58. Munson School for Private Secretaries, 150 Post Street. 

59. National Conservatory of Music, Phelan Building. 

60. National Salesmen's Training Association, Phelan Building. 

61. Pacific College of Law, 681 Market Street. 

62. People's Place and Social Settlement, 555 Chestnut Street. 

63. Pittman Shorthand Studio. Hearst Building. 



496 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAW FRANCISCO. 

(54. Raymond Coaching School, 2659 California Street. 

65. Roth Memory Institute, Pacific Building. 

66. San Francisco Business College, 90S Market Street. 

67. San Francisco Law School, 126 Post Street. 

68. San Francisco National Training School and Deaconess School, 129 Haight 

Street. 

69. San Francisco Polyclinic and Postgraduate School, 1535 Jackson Street. 

70. San Francisco School of Expression, 2127 Broderick Street. 

71. San Francisco School of Hairdressing, 2006 Fillmore Street. 

72. San Francisco School of Show Card Writing, 915 Van Ness Avenue. 

73. San Francisco Veterinary College, ISIS Market Street. 

74. School of Accounts of San Francisco, 995 Market Street. 

75. Southern's Stagecraft Studio, 62S Cole Street. 

76. St. Ignatius University, 2211 Hayes Street. 

77. St. Peter's Academy, 1245 Alabama Street. 

7S. St. Vincent School and Business College, Fifth and Clementina Streets. 

79. Standard Commercial School, 126 Post Street. 

80. Stanford University Medical School, Sacramento and Webster Streets. 

81. Success Commercial Academy, 935 Buena Vista Avenue. 

82. Taylor's Nautical School, 510 Battery Street. 

83. Vienna Dressmaking and Millinery School, 177 Post Street. 

84. Western School of Cartooning, Phelan Building. 

85. Wilmerding School of Industrial Arts, Seventeenth and Utah Streets 

86. Young Men's Christian Association, 220 Golden Gate Avenue. 

87. Young Men's Hebrew Association, 1562 Ellis Street. 

88. Young Women's Christian Association, 1249 O'Farrell Street. 

STATE INSTITUTIONS. 

89. California State Normal School, Waller and Buchanan Streets. 

90. University of California College of Dentistry, Arguello and Pariiassua 

Streets. 

91. University of California College of Pharmacy, Arguello and Parnassus 

Streets. 

92. University of California Extension Division, Lick Building, 62 Post Street. 

93. University of California Medical School, Second Avenue and Parnassus 

Street. 

TRAINING SCHOOLS FOB NUKSES. 

94. Children's Hospital, 3700 California Street. 

95. City and County Hospital, Potrero Avenue, between Twenty-first and 

Twenty-third Streets. 

96. German Hospital, Fourteenth and Noe Streets. 

97. Hahnemann Hospital, California and Maple Streets 

98. Lane Hospital, Webster and Clay Streets. 

99. McNutt Hospital, Pine and Hyde Streets. 
LOO. Mount Zion Hospital, Post and Scott Streets. 

101. St. Francis Hospital, Bush and Hyde Streets. 

102. St. Luke's Hospital, Twenty-seventh and Valencia Streets; 

103. St Mary's Hospital, Stanyan and Hayes Streets. 

104. St. Winifred's Hospital, 1065 Sutter Street. 

105. Union Labor Hospital, 1055 Pine Street. 

106. University of California Hospital. Second anrl Parnassus Avenues. 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



497 



One approach to the problem is through a study of the occupations 
of the people. Table 15 G shows the distribution of persons engaged 
in gainful occupation, by age periods, comparing California with 
the United States as a whole. (See also fig. GO.) 




498 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 150. — Per cent distribution of persons engaged in gainful occupations, 
by age periods, the United States and California, 1010. 



Ago period. 



California. 



10 years and over. 



10 to 13 years 

14 to 15 years . 

16 to 20 years 

21 to 44 years l ... 
45 years and over. 




i Includes persons of unknown ago. 

From this table it appears that less than 1 per cent of the workers 
in California arc under 1G years of age, as compared with 5.2 per 
cent in the United States. The percentage is much smaller also in 
the period 1G to 20 years of age, whereas in the 21 to 44 years period 
the percentage is G2.5 for California and 5G.5 for the United States. 
The problem of the immature worker is, therefore, not so pressing 
in California as it is elsewhere. 

Table 157 shows the ranking of the more important industries of 
San Francisco in 1900 and in 1904, and indicates to a certain extent 
the diversity to be found in these industries. A comparison of the 
relative rankings of these industries at the two dates shows that no 
one of these groups of industries predominates. 

Table 157. — Ranking of the more important industries in Sa\n Francisco, 1904 

and 1009. 



Rank. 


1909 


1904 


First 


Printing, publishing 


Sugar, refining. 
Printing, publishing. 
Foundry and machine-shop prod- 
ucts. 
Slaughtering, meat packing. 

Shipbuilding, boat building. 
Bread and other bakery products. 


6econd 


Sugar, refining 


Third 


Slaughtering, meat packing 


Fourth..... 


Foundry and machine-shop prod- 
ucts. 
Bread and other baking products. . . 
Coffee and spice, roasting, grinding.. 


Fifth....... 


Sixth...... 





Table 158 suggests still further the diversity of industrial inter- 
ests, and shows that San Francisco has a large number of establish- 
ments having a relatively small average number of wage earners. 



Table 158. — Rank of San Francisco among the 75 cities leading in manufac- 
turing industries, as measured by value of products, 1909. 
Rank. 
11 in population. 
11 in number of establishments. 
21 in number of wage earners. 
1G in value of products. 
15 in value added by manufacture. 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 



499 



PROBABLE VOCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES. 

The survey commission was unable to secure definite figures con- 
cerning the distribution of persons engaged in gainful occupations 
in San Francisco later than those of the census reports of 1910. 
The figures for 1910, comparing San Francisco with the State of 
California and with the United States as a whole, are presented 
in Table 159. (See also Fig. TO.) 

Table 159. — Distribution of persons 10 years of age and over engaged in gainful 
occupations; the United States, California, and San Francisco compared, 
1910. 





United Stales. 


California. 


San Francisco. 




Number. 


Tcr cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Total population 


91,972,266 
71,580,270 

3S, 167, 336 




2,377,549 
2, 007, 60S 

1,107,668 




416,912 
302, S26 

223,713 




Population 10 years of ago or over. . . 








Number of persons engaged in gain- 








Percent of population lOyenrsofagc 
and over engaged in gainful occu- 
pations. 


53.2 


55.2 


61.0 












Agriculture, forestry, animal hus- 
l>andrv 


12,659,203 
964,824 

10, 658, RSI 
2.637,671 
3,614,670 

459,291 
1,663,569 
3,772,174 
1,737,053 


33.2 
2.5 

27.9 
6.9 
9.5 

1.2 
4.4 
9.9 
4.6 


225,071 
31,298 

293,576 
104,293 
151,598 

24,476 
69,453 
140, 152 
67,751 


20.3 
2.8 

26.5 
9.4 
13.7 

2.2 
6.3 
12.7 
6.1 


3,422 
1,052 

71,112 

26,905 
38,540 

10,432 
13.S25 
36,848 
21,577 


1.5 


Extraction of minerals 


.5 


Manufacturing and mechanical in- 
d ustrics 


31.9 


Transportation 


12.1 


Trade 


17.3 


Public service (not otherwise clas- 
sified) 


4.6 


Professional service 


6.2 


Domestic and personal service 

Clerical occupations 


16.5 
9.0 






All gainful occupations 


38,167,336 


100.0 


1,107,668 


100.0 


223,713 


100.0 



Table ]G0. — Per cent distribution of persons engaged in gainful occupations; San 
Francisco compared with the United States as a whole, and with 9 cities having a 
population of 300,000 to 500,000, in 1910. {See figures 70 and 71.) 



Occupation group. 


Per cent in each group of 
occupations. 


Nino 
cities. 


United 
States. 


San Fran- 
cisco. 




1.0 

.2 

42.0 

8.0 
15.3 

2.1 

5.7 
14.6 
10.0 


33.2 
2.5 

27.9 
6.9 
9.5 
1.2 
4.4 
9.9 
4.6 


1.5 




.5 




31.9 


Transportation 


12.1 


Trado t 


17.3 


Public service 


4.6 


Professional 


6.2 


Domest ic and personal service '. . 


16. 5 


Clerical 


9.6 


Total 




100.0 


100.0 


100.0 


■p* ie. 





The first point to be noted in a study of this table is the fact that 
the proportion of the population 10 years of age and over engaged in 
gainful occupations in San Francisco, Gl.G per cent, is more than 
one-tenth greater than for the State of California, 55.2 per cent, and 



500 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



nearly one-fifth greater than for the United States as a whole, 53.2 
per cent. 

In considering the distribution among the general divisions of 
occupations, it is observed that : 

1. The divisions of "Agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry '' 
and " extraction of minerals " are of relatively slight importance in 
San Francisco ; 1.5 and 0.5 per cent, respectively. 











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VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



501 



2. The proportion engaged in manufacturing and the mechanical 
industries, 31.9 per cent in San Francisco, is 20 per cent greater than 
in the State of California, 2G.5 per cent, and 12J per cent greater than 
in the United States as a whole, 27. 9 per cent. 

3. The proportions engaged in transportation and in trade, in 
San Francisco, are nearly one-third greater than in the State, and 
Qearly twice as great as in the United States as a whole. 




502 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



4. The proportion engaged in public service in San Francisco, 
while not large, 4.6 per cent, is more than twice as great as in the 
State, 2.2, and nearly four times as great as in the United States as 
a whole, 1.2 per cent. 

5. The proportion engaged in professional pursuits in San Fran- 
cisco, G.2 per cent, is approximately the same as in the State, 6.3 per 
cent, and somewhat greater than in the United States as a whole, 4.4 
per cent. 

G. The proportion engaged in domestic and personal service in 
San Francisco, 1G.5 per cent, is nearly one-third greater than in the 
State, 12.7 per cent, and nearly twice as great as in the United States 
as a whole, 9.9 per cent. 

7. The proportion engaged in clerical occupations in San Fran- 
cisco, 9.G per cent, is more than one-half greater than in the State. 
G.l per cent, and more than twice as great as in the United States as 
a whole, 4.G per cent. 

The number of persons engaged in manufacturing and mechanical 
industries, transportation, and trade, was 136,557 in San Francisco, 
or G1.3 per cent of the total. It is these groups of occupations, there- 
fore, that give character to the vocational life of the city. 

It is not to be assumed that the youth is limited in his choice or 
opportunity to those occupations found in the city of San Francisco, 
cr even to those found in the State of California. But, since these 
vocations are the ones about which the most information is avail- 
able, and the ones in which opportunities for a start in life are most 
likely to present themselves, it is important to study the vocations 
as actually followed in San Francisco. The figures are analyzed still 
further in Table 161. 

Table 1G1. — Occupations in California in tvliich 1,000 or more persons are en- 
gaged, and number of persons engaged in each, in California and in San 
Francisco in 1910. 





Male. 


Fomalo, 




California. 


San Fran- 
cisco. 


California. 


3an Fran- 
cisco. 


Total population 


1,322.978 
1,135,489 

932, 7*2 


230,901 
209,513 

182.503 


1,054.570 
872,209 

174.916 


180.011 


Population 10 vears of ape and over -. 


153,313 
41.150 


Numbe r of porsons engaged in gainful occupations: A 11 occu- 






Agrkullure, forestry, animal husbandry.. ... 


217.748 


3.366 


7.323 


56 






Dairv farmers 


4.4H7 

5.f>f.9 

50.774 

83.128 

2.744 

3.7S9 

17.713 

21.640 

8.848 

4. 809 

3,750 

2.293 

1.572 


34 

108 

147 

448 

17 

1,391 

301 

691 

40 

62 

38 

41 

48 


140 

161 

2.895 

2,071 

81 

13 

912 

553 

4 

32 

185 

281 

28 




Pairv-farra laborers , . 


4 


Fa rmers „ 


3 




13 


Farm, etc., foromen . . 


1 




1 


Gardeners, tlorists. nurserymen, fruit growers ...... 


14 


Gardon, etc., laborers „ . „ 


9 






Stock herders, drovors, feeders ... 


1 


Btock raisers 


3 


Poultry raisers and laborers 


7 


Other occupations 


S 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 



503 



Table 161. — Occupations in California in tcliich 1,000 or more persons are en- 
gaged, and number of persons engaged in each, in California and in San 
Francisco in 1910 — Continued. 



Male 



California. 



San Fran- 
cisco. 



Female 



California. 



San Fran- 
cisco. 



Extraction of minerals . 



Operators, officials, managers 

Coppor-mine operatives 

Cold and silver mine operatives... 
Operatives in mines, uot specified. 

Quarry operatives 

Oil, gas, and salt-well operatives.. 
Other occupations 



Manufacturing and mechanical industries. 



Apprentices, building and hand trades , 

Other apprentices , 

B akc rs 

Blacksmiths, forgemen, hammermen , 

Boilermakers , 

Brick and stone masons 

Builders, building contractors 

Cabinet makers. 

Carpcn t ers 

Compositors, linotypers, typeset ters 

Dressmakers, seamstresses (not. in factory) 

E lectricians, electrical engineers 

Engineers (stationary) 

Firemen (except locomotive and fire department). 

Foremen, overseers (manufact uring) 

Jewelers, watchmakers, silversmiths, goldsmiths.. 
Laborers 

Building and hand trades 

Clay, glass, and stone industries 

Iron and steel industries 

Lumber and furniture industries 

Fish curing and packing 

Other industries 

Machinists, millwrights, toolmakcrs 

Managers, superintendents (manufacturing) 

Manufacturers and officials 

Mechanics (not otherwise specified) 

Milliners, millinery dealers 

Molders, casters, founders (metal) 

Painters, glaziers, varnishcrs, etc. 

Plasterers 

Plumbers, gas and steam fitters 

Semiskilled operatives 

Cigar and tobacco factory 

Clay, glass, and stone industries 

Food industries 

Iron and steel industries 

Liquor and beverage industries 

Lumber and furniture industries 

Other industries 

Sewers, sewing-machine operators (factory) 

Shoemakers, cobblers (not in factory) 

Tailors, tailoresses . 

Tinsmiths, coppersmiths 

Other occupations 



Transportation. 



Water transportation 

Captains, masters, mates, pilots.. 

Longshoremen, stevedores 

Sailors, deck hands. 

Other occupations 

Road and street transportation 

Chauffeurs 

Draymen, teamsters, expressmen. 

Hostlers, stable hands 

Livery-stable keepers, managers. . 

Other occupations 

Railroad transportation 

Brakemen 

Conductors (steam railways) 

Conductors (street railways) 

Foremen, overseers 



31,254 



1.051 



2.301 
1.385 
15.814 
3.161 
2.5S9 
4,899 
1,105 

263,480 



1S5 
14 

297 
379 
88 
18 
70 

01.785 



1.153 
2.339 
3,755 

10,269 
1,783 
3.368 

10,353 
1,829 

37,140 

4,168 

37 

8.326 

11, 1C0 
3,310 
3,003 
1.175 

60.905 

38,494 
4.215 
2,947 
5.005 
1,241 
9,003 

13,394 
3,148 
8,327 
1,233 
202 
1,804 

12,213 
2,207 
7,063 

29,306 
1,153 
1,359 
3,027 
6,668 
1,477 
4,724 

10,898 
472 
2,619 
4,960 
1,181 

12,621 

100.052 



12,612 
2,386 
2,593 
7,450 
183 

26,597 
2,300 

17,653 
3, 125 
1,268 
2,251 

40,402 
2,039 
1,876 
2,854 
2.109 



224 

021 

1,253 

1,250 

465 

860 

2,049 

615 

7.468 

1,203 

20 

2.172 

2,694 

1,641 

418 

398 

9, 795 

6,131 

324 

699 

149 

904 

688 

2.982 

608 

2,221 

283 

74 

567 

3,090 

682 

1,853 

9,427 

463 

412 

1,161 

2,351 

517 

782 

3,741 

227 

645 

1,895 

289 

3,896 

25.848 



1,514 

1,539 

5,772 

61 

6,493 

642 

4,590 

629 

137 

495 

4,538 

127 

229 

781 

123 



44 



19 



10 

30.006 



456 
145 

1 



59 
1 
3 
414 
14,114 
5 
1 



228 
28 

949 

402 
26 
10 
33 
2 

476 

48 

282 

1 

4,053 

4 

24 



5,720 
211 

43 
1,540 

79 

29 

394 

3,424 

1,994 

11 
1,434 



4,456 
4.241 



7 
9 

135 



9.327 



120 
34 



22 



112 

3,112 

2 



74 
7 
128 
43 
4 
2 
4 



75 



2,262 

117 

32 

494 

27 

13 

50 

1,529 

750 

3 

629 



64 
1.057 



504 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 161.- — Occupations in California in which 1,000 or more persons are en 
gaged, and number of persons engaged in each, in California and in Sati 
Francisco in 1010 — Continued. 



Railroad transportation— Continued. 

Laborers 

Locomot i vc engineers 

Locomoti vc firemen 

Motormen 

Switchmen, flagmen, yardmen 

Other occupations 

Express, post, telegraph, telephone , 

Mail carriers ....... 

Telegraph and telephone linemen 

Telegraph operators 

Telephone operators 

Other occupations 

Laborers 

Other occupations (semiskilled) , 

Other occupations 

Trade 

Bankers, brokers, money lenders 

Clerks in stores 

Commercial travelers 

Deliverymen 

Floorwalkers, foremen, overseers 

Insurance agents and officials 

Laborers, coal and lumberyard, warehouses , 

Laborers, porters, helpers in stores 

Newsboys.. 

Proprietors, officials, managers , 

Real-estate agents and officials , 

Retail dealers ■. 

Salesmen, saleswomen. 

Wholesale dealers, exporters 

Fruit graders and packers 

Other occupations (semiskilled) .» 

Other occupations , 

Public service (not elsewhere classified) 

Firemen (fire department) 

Guards, watchmen, doorkeepers 

Laborers (public service) 

Officials, inspectors (city and county) 

Officials, inspectors (State and United States) 

Policemen 

Soldiers, sailors, marines 

Other occupations 

Professional service 

Architects 

Artists, sculptors, teachers of art 

Authors, editors, reporters .... 

Civil and mining engineers, surveyors 

Clergymen. ._* 

Dentists ..... 

Designers, draftsmen, inventors 

Lawyers, judges, justices 

Musicians, teachers of music 

Photographers , 

Physicians, surgeons 

Showmen 

Teachers ............ 

Trained nurses 

Semiprofessional occupations 

Other occupations 

Domestic and personal service ....'..: 

Barbers, hairdressers, manicurists 

Bartenders 

Boarding and lodging house keepers 

Hotel keepers, managers 

Housekeepers, stewards 

Janitors, sextons 

Laborers (domestic and personal service 1 ) 1 



Male. 



California. 



19,390 
2, 774 
1, 862 
2,967 
2,296 
2,235 
6,587 
1.824 
1,517 
1,690 
291 
1,265 

10,365 
1, 292 
2,194 

133,663 



4,827 
11,465 
4,691 
8,467 
1,051 
3,101 
4,242 
3,028 
1,256 
1,315 
9,779 
44,752 
29, 547 
2,137 
1,666 
1,089 
1,330 

23,923 



1,824 
2,711 
2,350 
2,144 
1,879 
2,046 
9,569 
1,400 

41,138 



1,203 
1,062 
1,811 
4,945 
3,135 
2,000 
1,716 
4,871 
2,825 
1,328 
5,179 
1,129 
2,985 
454 
2,787 
3, 708 

78,062 



7,098 
6,097 
1,974 
2,756 
1,381 
3,693 
2.015 



San Fran- 
cisco. 



1,678 
222 
130 
809 
256 
183 

1,327 
384 
264 
297 
58 
314 

3,788 
438 



34,069 



1,171 

3,905 

1,293 

2,156 

163 

925 

579 

1, 168 

286 

239 

1,284 

10,751 

8,910 

646 

9 

315 

83 

10,405 



1,013 
857 
711 
264 
516 
1,033 
5, 765 
246 

8,720 



338 
460 
804 
320 
449 
511 

1,150 
845 
301 

1,116 
198 
305 
88 
610 
856 

23, 641 



1,694 
2,180 
263 
598 
670 
1,116 
438 



Female. 



California. 



85 



25 



442 

3,520 

8 

6 

11 

74 

17,935 



169 

3,349 

72 

4 

152 

121 

6 

109 

7 

55 

433 

2,345 

9,246 

37 

1,573 

150 

208 

553 



2 
21 

138 
363 



29 
28,315 



32 

1,110 

448 

1 

- 45 

85 

112 

37 

3,904 

294 

852 

62 

13, 630 

4,406 

1,387 

2,000 

62,090 



1,516 

12 

6,638 

824 

5,873 

644 

87 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



505 



Table 161. — Occupations in California in which 1,000 or fnore persons arc en 
gaged, and number of persons engaged in each, in California and in San 
Francisco in 1010 — Continued. 



Launderers, laundresses (not in laundry) 

Laundry operatives , 

Laundry owners, offioia's, managers , 

Midwives, nurses (not trained) 

Porters (except in stores) 

Restaurant, cai'e, lunchroom keepers 

Saloon keepers . 

Servants 

Chambermaids , 

Cooks „ , 

Other servants 

Waiters 

Other occupations 

Clerical occupations 

Agents, canvassers, collectors 

Bookkeepers, cashiers, accountants 

Clerks (except in stores) .. 

Messengers, office and bundle boys 

Stenographers, typewriters , 



Male. 



California. 



461 

6,159 

1,373 

665 

2,947 

2,811 

3,977 

22,896 

24 

15, 792 

7,089 

7,333 

4,426 

43,432 



5,663 

13,625 

19,831 

2,625 

1,688 



San Fran- 
cisco. 



95 

2,058 

322 

127 

949 

836 

1,158 

6,479 

1 

4,567 

1,911 

3, 154 

1,504 

13,678 



1,429 

3,757 

7,098 

964 

430 



Female. 



California. 



3,821 


304 


4,300 


1,120 


109 


42 


5,753 


1,262 


2 





478 
55 
27,204 
1,143 
6,398 
19,663 
4,372 
C02 

24,319 



351 

8,672 

3,594 

434 

11,268 



San Fran- 
cisco. 



24 

6,194 

284 

1,201 

4,709 

977 

126 

7,899 



85 

2,368 

1,288 

136 

4,032 



ANNUAL NUMBER OF APPLICANTS FOR WORK. 

No figures are available to indicate how many young persons enter 
upon wage-earning careers eacli year in San Francisco. A fairly 
satisfactory average number, for the purpose of this study, may be 
obtained from the age-grade distribution of pupils in the public 
schools. (See Table 23.) 

Beginning at 15 years of age, there is a rapid falling off in the 
aumber of pupils at each age. By taking the average number of 
pupils at each age for the four years prior to 15, a figure is obtained 
which gives the approximate number of pupils passing through the 
schools annually. As shown in Table 1G2, this number is 4,293. 

Table 162. — Pupils in San Francisco schools who are 11. 12, 13. or 14 years oj 

age: 1915. 







Age in years. 


Number of 
pupils. 


11 


4,618 


12 


4,472 


13 


4,315 


U 


3,767 




Total 








17,172 








4,293 











According to the United States census, 8G.6 per cent of children 
of 6 to 14 years of age in San Francisco in 1910 were reported as at 
tending school. Assuming that the percentage of children attending 



506 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



school in 1915 was the same as in 1910, the average number of chil- 
dren annually reaching the age of entrance upon vocational life is 
probably not less than 5,000. This calculation necessarily disregards 
an unknown number of children enrolled in other than public 
schools. 

Table 1G3 shows the probable future occupations of 5,000 children, 
assuming that they will be distributed among the major divisions of 
occupations in the proportions reported for all those engaged in 
gainful occupations in San Francisco in 1910. On the basis of this 
distribution, there would be 1,590 new recruits each year in manu- 
facturing and mechanical industries, 605 in transportation, and so on. 

Table 1G3. — Probable future occupations of 5,000 children, distributed according 
to percentage distribution of persons 10 years of age and over engaged in 
gainful occupations in San Francisco in 1010. 



Occupations. 


Percentage 
distribu- 
tion, San 

Francisco, 
1010. 


Number of 
children 
in each 
5,000 on 

samo basis. 


Agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry 


1.5 

.5 

31.0 

12.1 

17.3 

4.6 

6.2 
16.5 

0.6 


75 


E xtraction of minerals 


25 


Manufacturing and mechanical industries 


1,590 
605 


Transportation „ 


Trade „ 


865 


Public service (not otherwise classified) 


230 


Professional service 


310 


Domestic and personal service 


825 


Clerical occupations 


480 






Total 


100.0 


5,000 





As shown in Table 1G1, there were 1,315 compositors, linotypers, 
and typesetters in San Francisco in 1910, or 0.G per cent of the total 
number engaged in gainful occupations, 223,713. The same propor- 
tion of 5,000 is 30. There were 2,982 machinists, millwrights, and 
toolmakers, or 1.3 per cent of the total number. The same propor- 
tion of 5,000 is Go. This means that there would be approximately 
30 new applicants each year for positions as compositors, linotypers, 
and typesetters, and G5 applicants for positions as machinists, mill- 
wrights, and toolmakers; or two new applicants annually for each 
100 persons already engaged in the occupation. 

Evidently this proportionate annual addition of new workers, if 
extended over a period of years, would be inadequate, for it would 
not be sufficient to provide for industrial development, or even to 
maintain present working forces. The children do not constitute 
the only source of supply, however, so that there appears to be some 
justification for considering the figure given as an approximate in- 
dex of the annual demand, so far as school children are concerned. 

Applying this index number to the figures given in Table 161, the 
approximate annual demand for workers in certain selected occupa- 
fions is shown in Table 1G4. 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 



507 



Table 164. — Number of new icorlccrs needed annually in certain occupations, in 
San Francisco, on the basis of 2 to each 100 workers now engaged. 



Occupations. 


No. 


Occupations. 


No. 


Agriculture, etc.: 


2 
3 

9 

28 
6 
14 

4 
6 

8 

4 
14 
26 
25 
8 
17 
41 
12 

150 
26 
74 
42 
54 
32 
10 
8 

200 

60 

10 

46 

5 

26 
11 

v 60 
13 
37 

12 

8 

33 

47 

10 

15 

104 

20 

13 

50 

5 

78 

30 
30 
115 

12 
92 
12 

2 
10 

2 
4 

15 
4 

33 
4 
2 

16 
5 
3 

7 
5 


Transportation— Con tinucd . 

Express, post, etc.— Continued. 

Telegraph operators 






8 




Telephone operators 


20 




Other occupations 


6 






74 




Other occupai ions (semiskilled ) 


8 


Extraction of minerals: 


Ot her occupations 


8 


Trade: 

Bankers, cte 






24 




Clerks in stores 


94 


Manufacturing and mechanical industries: 
Apprentices, building and hand trades... 


Commercial travelers 


26 


Deli vervmen 


43 


Floorwalkers, etc 


4 




Insurance agents, etc 


19 




Laborers, etc 


11 




Laborers, porters, in stores 


24 




Newsboys 


5 




Proprietors 


5 




Peal estate agents, etc 


20 




Retail dealers 


227 




Salesmen , saleswomen 


231 




Wholesale dealers, etc 


13 




Other occupations (semiskilled) 


7 




Other occupat ions 


2 


Firemen (except locomotive, etc.).... 

Foremen (manufacturing) 


Public service (not other icise classified): 

Firemen (fire department) 


20 




Guards, etc 


17 




Laborers 


14 




Officials (city and countv) 


6 


Managers , superin tendents 


Officials (State and United States) 


10 




20 


Mechanics (not othcrwiso specified) 

Milliners, etc 


Soldiers, sailors, marines 


115 


Other occupations.'. 


5 


Molders, etc 


Professional service: 

Architects 




Painters, etc 


7 


Plasterers 


Artists, etc 


11 


Plumbers, etc 


A uthors, etc 


9 


Semiskilled operatives — 

Cigar and tobacco, factories 


Civil engineers, etc 


16 


Clergvmcn 


6 


Clav. glass, stone -. 


Dentists 


9 


Food industries 


Designers, etc 


10 


Iron and steel 


Lawyers, etc 


23 


Liquor and beverage 


Musicians, etc 


32 


Lumber and furniture 


Photographers 


7 


Other industries 


1 'h ysicians, surgeons 


26 


Sewing-machine operatives 


Showmen 


4 




Teachers ..... 


40 


Tailors, tailoresses 


Trained nurses „ 


24 


Tinsmiths , etc 


Semiprofessional occupations 


18 


Other occupations 




26 


Water transportation — 


Domestic and personal service: 

Barbers, etc 


44 


Captains, etc 




42 


Longshoremen, etc 


Boarding and lodging house keepers 

Hotel keepers, managers 


30 


Sailors, etc 


14 


Road and street transportation — 

Chauffers 


Housekeepers, stewards 


32 




24 


Dravmen, etc 




8 






8 


Livery-stable keepers 


Laundry operatives 


63 


Other occupations „ . 




7 


Railroad transportation — 




27 


Brakemen 




19 


Conductors (steam railway).... 


r. estaurant keepers 


18 


Conductors (street railway) 




23 


Foremen 




253 


Laborers 


Waiters 


81 






32 


Locomotive firemen 


Clerical occupations: 




Motormen 


30 


Switchmen, etc 




122 


Other occupations , 


Clerks (except in stores) 


167 


Mail carriers 




21 


Stenographers, typewriters. .............. 


89 













608 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

A STUDY OF PUPILS 13 OR 14 YEARS OF AGE. J 

A number of school surveys have called attention to the signifi- 
cance of a study of those pupils in a school system who are 13 or 14 
years of age. (1) Boys and girls both begin to drop out of school 
in large numbers soon after the age of 14 is reached, so that at or 
before this period is the latest possible opportunity to study a cross 
section of the school population before it is affected seriously by 
selective elimination. (2) The distribution of pupils of these ages 
through the grades gives some indication of the success of the school 
system in classifying the pupils. (3) The study also indicates the 
extent of the schooling which many of these boys and girls are likely 
to receive before dropping out of the system. (4) Information con- 
cerning the nativity of pupils, their parents, and older brothers and 
sisters has a bearing on the probable stability of the population. 
(5) Information concerning the occupations of fathers, brothers, 
and sisters, and the occupations which the pupils themselves expect 
to enter is significant in any study of a program for vocational edu- 
cation. 

Since it was impracticable to study all children" of these ages in 
the San Francisco schools, a random selection of 11 elementary 
schools was made and the inquiry confined to the 13 and 14 year old 
pupils in these schools. 

Following is a copy of the form which the children were asked 
to fill in : 

Record of 13 or 14 year old pupils. 

L. Name Boy or girl Grade Age 

2. School ___ Teacher 

3. Place of birth: Post office State 

Country (if not born in United States) ___ 

4. Do you intend to finish the eighth grade ?______To go to high school? 

To any other school, or college? _ What? 

5. Are you now employed at any kind of work out of school hours? 

If so, at what kind of work? 

6. What do you plan to do to earn a living when you grow up? 

Why do you plan to do this? , . 

7. Place of your father's birth: Post office_„ State— 

Country (if not born in United States) 

8. What is your father's occupation? . 

9. Give age of each brother under 21 who is at work, and his occupation : 

1. Age years. Occupation 

Name_„ Address . 

2. Age years. Occupation 

Name__ . . Address- 

3. Age years. Occupation 

Name.„ . ____Address 



*Thls report was prepared by the college of education. University of Kansas. Law 
rence, Kans.. under the direction of Dean F. J. Kelly 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 



509 



10. Give age of each sister under 21 who is at work, and her occupation : 

1. Age . years. Occupation . _. 

Name— Address ._. 

2. Age years. Occupation 

Name Address . . 

3. Age years. Occupation . 

Name - Address— . ,__. 



The number of papers forwarded to the compiler from the 11 
schools was 2,54G. Of these, G8 papers were rejected cither because 
the age given was outside the scope of the inquiry or because no age 
was given. Table 1G5 shows these 68 papers. 

Table 1G5. — Papers rejected. 



Girls. 



Boys. 



Total. 



16 years old 

15 years old 

12 years old, normal . . „ 
12 years old, 7th grade. 
12 years old, Stli grade. 

No age given 

No name or sox given.. 



Total. 



SUMMARY OF ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 1 AND 2. 

It was assumed that normal children 13 years old should be in the 
seventh grade, and those 14 years old in the eighth grade. Children 
L3 years old in the eighth grade are considered to be accelerated one 
year. Pupils below the grades regarded as normal are considered to 
be retarded. Table 1GG shows the number of pupils in each school, 
divided into five groups, according to their advancement in grades 
and according to sex. Table 167 shows the per cent distribution by 
sex. See also Figure 72. 



Table ICO. — Number of pupils accelerated, normal and retarded. 

BOYS. 



Number of school. 


Acceler- 
ated 1 
year. 


Of normal 
age. 


Retarded 
lyear. 

17 
38 
33 
44 
51 
50 
24 
52 
36 
52 


Retarded 
2 years. 


Retarded 

3 or more 

years. 


Total 


l 


10 
15 

4 
11 
20 

4 
10 
25 
15 

5 


33 
32 
33 
51 
36 
35 
68 
88 
32 
34 


25 
21 
16 
16 
13 
23 
13 
21 
21 
25 


15 
2 
3 

13 


100 


2 


108 


3 „ 


89 


i „. 


135 


6 


120 


«. 


15 
6 


127 


7 


121 


8 


186 


9 


5 
10 


109 


to 


126 






Total 


119 


442 


397 


194 


69 


1,221 







510 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FKANCISCO. 



GIRLS. 



1 


7 
11 
26 
20 
25 

2 
22 
33 

8 
11 


42 
48 
34 
45 
55 
25 
66 
105 
35 
37 


36 
26 
54 
42 
44 
31 
29 
56 
31 
63 


18 
11 
15 
7 
6 
16 
11 
11 
14 
40 


4 


107 


2 


96 


3 


1 
1 


130 


4 


115 


5... 


130 


6 


10 
1 


84 


7 


129 


8..... 


205 


9. 


5 
27 


93 


10 


168 






Total 


165 


492 


402 


149 


49 


1,257 








2S4 


934 


799 


343 


118 


2,478 





Table 1G7.- 



-Pcr cent distribution of accelerated, normal age, and retarded 
children, of 2Jf7S cases reporting. 



Pupils. 



Bovs 

Girls 

All pupils 



Per cent 
acceler- 
ated 1 
year. 



Per cent 
normal 



Per cent 
retarded 
1 year. 



Per cent 
retarded 
2 years. 



Per cent 

retarded 

3 or more 

years. 



It should be noted that no 14-year-old pupils are reported as accel- 
erated, since those that are accelerated have already left the grade 
schools. For purposes of comparison they should be included and 
they would doubtless greatly increase the number of accelerated 
students. In a rough way the rankings of the schools in per cent of 
accelerated and of retarded pupils are the reverse of each other ; but 
there are some interesting exceptions, due perhaps to chance and 
perhaps to the ratio between American and foreign pupils. 

A larger per cent of girls is accelerated than of boys, and a smaller 
per cent retarded two or more years. But the difference is not very 
marked, and in some schools the difference is the other way. 



SUMMARY OF ANSWERS TO QUESTION 3. 

In Table 1G8 is seen the classification of the pupils by schools ac- 
cording to parentage and place of birth. Of the boys, 35 per cent 
are of American parentage, 45 per cent are American born of foreign 
parentage, 14 per cent are foreign born, and G per cent are not stated. 
Of the girls, 35 per cent are of American parentage, 49 per cent are 
American born of foreign parentage, 12 per cent are foreign born, 
and 4 per cent are not stated. 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 



511 













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PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 168. — Place of birth and parentage of pupils. 

' BOYS. 



Number of school. 


American- 
born, 
American 
parentage. 


American- 
born, 
foreign 
parentage. 


Foreign- 
born. 


Tarcntage 

not 

stated. 


Total. 


1 


36 
27 
38 
51 


44 
•52 
37 
65 


16 
21 
12 
13 
17 
27 
9 
12 
12 
29 


4 
8 
2 
6 
17 
3 
5 
8 
8 
8 


100 


2.. „. 


108 


3 . 


89 


4 


135 


5 


40 46 
14 ! 83 
67 ! 40 
90 | 76 
51 ! 38 
16 1 73 


120 


5 


127 


7 


121 


8 


186 


9 


109 


10 


126 






Total 


430 554 


1C8 


69 


1,221 











GIRLS. 



L 


31 
33 
53 
39 
61 
17 
53 
98 
47 
21 


44 
52 
65 
66 
47 
49 
70 
85 
33 
98 


20 
7 

11 
5 

24 

17 
2 
9 
9 

51 


12 

4 
1 
5 
8 

4 
13 
4 



107 


2 


96 


3 


130 


4.... 


118 


5... 


130 


S 


84 


7 


129 


8 


205 


9 


93 


11 


168 






Total 


443 


607 


155 


52 


1,257 




Grand Total 


873 


1,161 


323 


121 


2,478 







PARENTAGE OP 2,476 PUPILS, 13 OR 14- YEARS OF A&E 
IN RELATION TO SCHOOL ADVANCEMENT 

AMERICAN AMERICAN BORN FOREIGN NOT 
PARENTAGE FORCI&N PARENT/* €»E BORN RPTO 




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PERCENT O 20 40 60 80 IOO 



ric 73. — Boys of American parentage are 35 per cent of the whole number of boy» 
In this group chosen at random, yet furnish only 30 per cent of those accelerated and 
17 per cent of those retarded three or more years; but they furnish 44 per cent of all 
the normal boys. American boys of foreign parentage are 45 per cent of the whole 
number of boys, yet they furnish 57 per cent of those accelerated. This and other 
comparisons show that a larger percentage of American-born children of foreign parent 
age is accelerated tlian of children of American parentage, but the latter furnish a 
smaller percentage of retarded pupils and a much larger percentage of normal pupil*. 
Children of American parents depart less from normal advancement in the grades than 
do other children. 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, 



513 



In four schools — 3, 7, 8, 9 — among both boys and girls the per cent 
of American born with American parentage is above 40. Of the 
boys in school 7 and of the girls in school 9 the majority are of 
American parentage. On the other hand, the majority of the boys 
in schools 6 and 10, and the majority of the girls in schools 2, 4, 6, 
and 11 are American born of foreign parentage. Of the girls in 
school 3 one-half are American born of foreign parentage. 

Table 169 shows the relation between birth and school advance- 
ment. Boys of American parentage are 35 per cent of whole number 
of boys, yet they furnish only 30 per cent of those accelerated and 17 
per cent of those retarded three or more years ; but they furnish 44 
per cent of all the normal boys. Girls of American parentage are 
35 per cent of the whole number of girls and they furnish 35 per cent 
of those accelerated ; they furnish only 19 per cent of those retarded 
two years and only 10 per cent of those retarded three or more years. 
(See also Fig. 73.) 

Table 1G9. — Parentage in relation to school advancement. 

< This table should be read as follows: Of the boys accelerated one year, 35 boys, or 30 per cent, are of 
American parentage; 57 per cent are American-born of foreign-born parents, and so on.) 

BOYS. 



Parentage 


Acceler- 
ated 1 year. 


Normal. 


Retarded 
1 year. 


Retarded 
2 years. 


Retarded 
3 or more 

years. 


Totals. 




Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


American parentage 

American -born, foreign 
parentage 


35 

68 
13 
3 


30 

57 
11 
2 


194 

191 
35 
22 


44 

43 
8 
5 


121 

182 
69 
25 


31 

46 
17 
6 


68 

79 
33 
14 


35 

41 
17 

7 


12 

34 
18 
5 


17 

50 
26 

7 


430 

554 
1C8 
69 


35 
45 




14 


Not stated 


6 






Total... 


119 


100 


442 


100 


397 


100 


194 


1C0 


69 


100 


1,221 


100 







GIRLS. 



American parentage 

American-b o r n , foreign 
parentage 


58 

89 
12 
6 


35 

54 

7 
4 


202 

235 

42 
13 


41 

48 
8 
3 


150 

185 
45 
22 


37 

46 
11 
6 


28 

72 
39 
10 


19 

48 

26 

7 


5 

26 
17 


10 

53 

35 

2 


443 

607 
155 

52 


35 

49 


Foreign-born 


12 


Not stated .......... ... 


4 






Total 


165 


100 


492 


100 


402 


100 


149 


100 


49 


100 


1,257 


100 






Grand Total....... 


284 




934 




799 




343 




118 


......2,478 





American-born boys of foreign parentage are 45 per cent of the 
whole number of boys, yet they furnish 57 per cent of those acceler- 
ated. American-born girls of foreign parentage are 49 per cent of 
the whole number of girls, yet they furnish 54 per cent of those 
accelerated. Thus a larger per cent of American-born children of 
foreign parentage is accelerated than of children of American par- 
ents, but the latter furnish a smaller per cent of retarded pupils and 
93815—17 33 



514 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



a much larger per cent of normal pupils. Children of American 
parents depart less from normal advancement in the grades than do 
other children. 

Table 170. — Distribution of pupils according to plans for further schooling. 

BOYS. 



Accel- 
erated. 



Nor- 
mal. 



Retarded 
lyear. 



Retarded 
2 years 



Retarded 

3 or more 

years. 



Totals. 



Num- 
ber. 



Per 
Cent. 



Not to finish eighth grade 

To finish eighth grade 

Tc enter high school 

To enter business college. 

To enter university 

Not stated 

Total 

Not to finish eighth grade. 

To finish eighth grade 

To enter h igh school 

To enter business college. 

To enter university 

Notstated 

Total 



187 

80 

93 





14 

149 

98 

64 

70 

2 



61 
346 



190 



119 



442 



397 



194 



1,221 



100 



GIRLS. 









9 


29 


29 


67 


3 


52 


122 


59 


13 


249 


95 


260 


131 


36 


2 


524 


31 


99 


84 


18 


4 


236 


36 


79 


54 


6 


1 


176 





2 


2 


1 





5 


165 


492 


402 


149 


49 


1,257 



100 



It is significant that 1 boy in 3 and 1 girl in 4 do not expect any 
further schooling than the eighth grade (Table 170). All accelerated 
pupils expect to finish the eighth grade, but 0.5 per cent of the normal 
boys, 3.5 per cent of those retarded 1 year, 14 per cent of those 
retarded 2 years, and 26 per cent of those retarded 3 or more 
years do not expect to finish the eighth grade. Of the girls 2 per 
cent of those retarded 1 year, 20 per cent of those retarded 2 years, 
and 59 per cent of those retarded 3 or more years do not expect to 
finish the eighth grade. The more retarded a pupil is, the less likely 
is he to expect to finish the graded school. 

Of the girls 42 per cent expect to go to high school, while only 
32 per cent of the boys have this hope. Nineteen per cent of the 
girls and 16 per cent of the boys expect to attend business college. 
In many papers business colleges were named, and they are nearly 
all private institutions. It seems that here is a field where the public- 
school system could well be extended. A larger per cent of boys 
than of girls expect to go to the university. 

SUMMARY OF ANSWERS TO QUESTION 5. 

The students employed outside of school hours at some definite kind 
of work are tabulated in Table 171. Only 4 per cent of the boys and 
0.5 per cent of the girls are employed in " apprentice " occupations, 
using " apprentice " in a very wide sense so as to include any employ- 
ment that would prepare for the occupation which the pupil plans 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 



516 



to enter. It would be a great boon if students that have to seek 
remunerative employment could find work along the line of their 
life plans. The accelerated students show a larger per cent without 
outside work than do the others, but the difference is so slight as to 
be negligible. It can not be seen that outside employment interferes 
with school work as far as these papers are any indication. Retarda- 
tion seems correlated with " apprentice " employments. 

Table 171. — Distribution of pupils according to present employment outside of 

school hours. 

BOYS. 





Acceler- 
ated. 


Normal. 


Retarded 
1 year. 


Retarded 
2 years. 


Retarded 

3 or more 

years. 


Totals. 




Num- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber, 


Per 

cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 




78 
20 

14 
2 
5 


65 
17 

12 
2 
4 


265 
65 

79 
12 
21 


59 
15 

18 
3 
5 


234 
66 

69 
13 
15 


59 
17 

17 
3 
4 


115 

28 

24 
14 
13 


69 
15 

12 

7 

7 


42 
5 

10 
5 

7 


61 

7 

15 

7 
10 


734 

184 

196 
46 
61 


60 




15 


Other ''blind alley" em- 


16 


''Apprentices" 


4 




5 






Total 


119 


100 


442 


100 


397 


100 


194 


100 


69 


100 


1,221 


100 











GIRLS. 



No outside work 


146 
15 

1 

3 


88 
9 

1 

2 


435 

48 

5 

4 


88 
10 

1 


1 


345 
34 

13 


8 


86 
8 

3£ 

2* 


130 
9 

1 
3 

6 


87 
6 

1 
2 

4 


41 
4 

1 
2 
1 


84 
8 

2 
4 
2 


1,097 
110 

21 

7 
22 


87 




8* 
2 


"Blind alley" employ- 


"Apprentices". 


j 


Wot stated 


2 






Total 


165 


100 


492 


100 


402 


100 


149 


100 


49 


100 


1,257 


100 






. geand Total 


284 




934 | 


799 




343 




118 




2,478 





Of both boys and girls, 20 per cent are without any definite voca- 
tional ambition, most of them frankly stating that they do not know 
what they expect to do to earn a living, Table 172. 

Table 172. — Distribution of pupils according to plans for vocation. 

BOYS. 





Acceler- 
ated. 


Normal. 


Retarded 
1 year. 


Retarded 
2 years. 


Retarded 

3 or more 

years. 


Totals. 




Num- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 

33 
14 

9 

8 
7 
4 
3 
21 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Mechanics, artisans 

Engineering and building 


31 
24 
18 
6 


26 

20 

15 
8 
a 


113 

115 

53 

31 

30 

. 15 

8 
77 


26 
26 

12 
7 
7 
3 
2 

17 


103 

89 

36 
31 
22 
17 
5 
94 


26 

22 

9 
8 
6 
4 
1 
24 


65 

28 

17 
16 
14 

7 

5 

42 


31 
5 

3 

7 
6 
2 
3 
12 


45 

7 

4 
10 
9 
3 
4 
18 


343 

261 

127 
95 
78 
45 
23 

249 


29 
21 


Medicine, law, teaching, 

and other professions 

Stenographers, clerks 


10 
8 
6 




4 ! 3 

2 | 2 
24 ; 20 


4 




2 


Not stated 


20 






Total 


119 100 


442 


100 


397 


100 


194 


100 


69 


100 


1,221 


100 











516 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Table 172.— Distribution of pupils according to plans for vocation — Continued. 

GIRLS. 





Acceler- 
ated. 


Normal. 


Retarded 
1 year. 


Retarded 
2 years. 


Retarded 

3 or more 

years. 


Totals. 




dum- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cmt. 


Num- 
ber. 


Por 
cjnt. 


Nurr- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Stenographers.. . 


40 
37 
19 
6 
4 
10 

14 
1 



1 

1 

32 


24 
22 
11 
4 
3 
6 

8 
1 

1 
1 
19 


115 
103 
41 
39 
21 
28 

28 
6 

10 
5 
4 

92 


23 
21 
8 
8 
5 
6 

6 
1 
2 
1 
1 
18 


87 
32 
43 
47 
32 
28 

12 

20 
7 
8 
7 

79 


21 

8 

11 

12 

8 
7 

3 

6 
2 
2 
2 
19 


27 
6 
15 
10 
16 
10 

1 

19 
2 
4 
2 

37 


18 
4 

10 
7 

11 
7 

1 
12 

1 

3 

1 

25 


4 

4 
4 
10 
5 

2 
6 
6 
3 

5 


8 



8 

8 
21 
10 

4 

12* 
124 

6 


10 


273 

178 
122 
106 
83 
81 

57 
52 
25 
21 
14 
245 




Teachers ................... 


14 


Clerks, bookkeepers .... 

Nurses 


10 
8 


Dressmakers 


6 


Milliners 


6 


Musicians, physicians, and 
other professions, oxcept 


5 


Other trades 


4 




2 


Telephone operators 

Actresses 


2 
1 


Not stated 


20 






Total 


165 


100 


492 


100 


402 


100 


149 


100 


49 


100 


1,257 


100 







In a general way, a larger per cent of accelerated and normal 
pupils prefer the professions than do the retarded students. A larger 
per cent of the students retarded three or more years have their 
vocation in mind than do other students. Of the boys accelerated, 
normal, and retarded one year, 26 per cent plan to be mechanics 
and artisans; of those retarded two years, 33 per cent so plan; and 
of those retarded three or more years, 45 per cent so plan. The boys 
planning to enter the engineering and building professions represent 
20 per cent of the accelerated boys, 26 per cent of those of normal 
age, 22 per cent of those retarded one year, 14 per cent of those 
retarded two years, and 7 per cent of those retarded three or more 
years. The more retarded, the fewer enter the engineering profes- 
sions, and the more become mechanics. This principle is more 
clearly seen in the case of those entering the medical, legal, teaching, 
and similar professions, representing 15 per cent of the accelerated 
boys, 12 per cent of the normal ones, 9 per cent of those retarded one 
year, 9 per cent of those retarded two years, and 4 per cent of those 
retarded three or more years. 

The profession most popular with the girls is stenography, being 
chosen by 22 per cent of the whole number of girls, by 24 per cent 
of the accelerated girls, and by decreasing per cents of the other 
classes, down to only 8 per cent of those retarded three or more 
years. The teaching profession is still more striking, being pre- 
ferred by 22 per cent of the accelerated students, by 21 per cent of 
those of normal age, by 8 per cent of those retarded one year, by 4 
per cent of those retarded two years, and by none of those retarded 
three or more years. The dressmaker's occupation is equally strik- 
ing the other way, being chosen by 3 per cent of accelerated girls, 
by 5 per cent of normal ones, by 8 per cent of those retarded one 
year, by 11 per cent of those retarded two years, and by 21 per cent 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 517 

of those retarded three or more years. Apparently acceleration is 
characteristic of those who have the ambition to teach; retardation 
is favorable to the choice of dressmaking as an occupation. Those 
planning to be milliners represent 6 per cent of the accelerated girls, 

6 per cent of the normal ones, 7 per cent of those retarded one year, 

7 per cent of those retarded two years, and 10 per cent of those re- 
tarded three or more years. Acceleration seems to accompany the 
choice of certain occupations, retardation favors the choice of some 
occupations, and there are other occupations the choice of which 
does not appear to be affected by either acceleration or retardation. 
Perhaps the schools emphasize the nurture of the " symbol-thinkers " 
and neglect the training of the " thing- thinkers." 

Of 343 boys planning to become mechanics, 9 per cent are accel- 
erated, 33 per cent are normal, 30 per cent are retarded one year, 
19 per cent are retarded two years, and 9 per cent are retarded three 
or more years. Of those planning to enter the engineering and 
building professions, 8 per cent are accelerated, 45 per cent are nor- 
mal, 34 per cent are retarded one year, 11 per cent are retarded two 
years, and 2 per cent are retarded three or more years. Of those 
planning to enter the medical, legal, teaching, and similar profes- 
sions, 14 per cent are accelerated, 42 per cent are normal, 28 per cent 
are retarded one year, 14 per cent are retarded two years, and 2 per 
cent are retarded three or more years. The whole number of seri- 
ously retarded students is relatively small, and even though a large 
per cent of them enter a given occupation, yet they will form but a 
small per cent of the whole number entering that occupation. 

Of 178 girls planning to become teachers, 22 per cent are accel- 
erated, 57 per cent are normal, 18 per cent are retarded one year, 
and 3 per cent are retarded two years, and none are retarded three 
or more years. Of 83 girls planning to become dressmakers, 5 per 
cent are accelerated, 25 per cent are normal, 38 per cent are retarded 
one year, 20 per cent are retarded two years, and 12 per cent are 
retarded three or more years. Of 81 girls planning to become milli- 
ners, 12 per cent are accelerated, 35 per cent are normal, 35 per cent are 
retarded one year, 12 per cent are retarded two years, and G per cent 
are retarded three or more years. The majority of those planning 
to enter any occupation will be composed of normal pupils and of 
those only slightly retarded. 

SEASONS FOR CHOICE. 

In planning their life work, most of the pupils seemed to feel 
that it is a matter of their own choice. The reasons for choosing 
a particular vocation have been apportioned into two classes. 
Where the pupil writes that he plans his vocation because " he likes 
it," " he has talent for it," " he does well at it," his answer is classed 
as " Interest." Where he writes that he wants " to make a living," 



518 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



" to get rich," " to help his parents," etc., his answer is classed as 
" Gain." In a very few cases the answer is " Because I have to 
make a living." 

Table 173 indicates these answers arranged in groups according to 
the advancement in school of the pupils. In 57 per cent of the girls, 
" Interest " is the determining factor, while among the boys only 53 
per cent give " Interest " as the underlying reason. " Gain " is the 
purpose of 20 per cent of the boys and of 17 per cent of the girls. 
From man's position as a breadwinner wo would naturally expect 
more boys than girls to be influenced by the " earning " opportunity 
of an occupation, and the strange thing is that not more of them 
were so influenced. Of pupils retarded three or more years, a larger 
per cent is dominated by the idea of earning a living than is found 
in the other groups. An interesting exception is found among the 
boys retarded two years, of whom 27 per cent are in the " Gain " 
column. It is to be noted that 20 per cent of both boys and girls 
failed to state any vocational ambition whatever, so it is not sur- 
prising that 27 per cent of the boys and 26 per cent of the grirle 
fail to state any reason for choosing a vocation. 

Table 173. — Reasons for planning particular vocations. 
BOYS. 





Accelerated. 


Normal. 


Retarded 
1 year. 


Retarded 
2 years. 


Retarded 

3 or more 

years. 


Total 




Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 
cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Per 

cent. 


Num- 
ber. 


Pei 
cent 


"Interest". 


67 
19 
33 


56 
16 
28 


256 
84 
102 


58 
19 
23 


196 
71 
130 


49 
18 
33 


84 
53 

57 


43 
27 

30 


45 
15 
9 


65 
22 
13 


648 
242 
331 


53 


"Gain" 


20 


Not stated 


27 






Total 


119 


100 


442 


100 


397 


100 


194 


100 


69 


100 


1,221 


100 







GIRLS. 



"Interest". 
"Gain" 

Not stated . . 

Total. 



113 


68 


263 


54 


232 


58 


77 


52 


29 


59 


714 


25 


15 


86 


17 


63 


16 


23 


15 


14 


29 


211 


27 


17 


143 


29 


107 


26 


49 


33 


6 


12 


332 


165 


100 


492 


100 


402 


100 


149 


100 


49 


100 


1,257 



100 



SUMMARY OF ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 8, 9, AND 10. 

The significance of these questions seems to be to determine the 
relationship of the father's vocation, or the brother's or sister's vo- 
cation, to the vocational plans of the children. Little of such re- 
lationship is revealed. One hundred and forty-seven boys, 12 per 
cent of the whole number, and 34 girls, 3 per cent of the whole num- 
ber, determine their vocation in close relationship with that of their 
fathers. By " close relationship " is meant either the same kind of 
occupation as the father, or working with the father for a common 
firm, or being employed by the father. The per^ cent having this 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 519 

close relationship is much greater among the boys than among the 
girls. 

A close relationship between the vocation of the pupil and that 
of the brothers or. sisters is found in the cases of 38 boys and 48 
girls. It would seem that the girl is more apt to follow her sister 
than the boy is to follow his brother. Many pupils failed to answer 
all the questions, and there are doubtless many more cases of close 
relationship than are here tabulated. About all the occupations of 
San Francisco are represented among these fathers, brothers, and 
sisters, and there is no preponderance of any one occupation or type 
of occupations. 

Information was secured from 143 brothers and 88 sisters, a num- 
ber which is not large enough to justify drawing definite conclusions. 
Hence, the details of this part of the study are not included in this 
report. 

A STUDY OP HOLDERS OF WORKING PERMITS. 

In general, children under 16 years of age are required to be- in 
school, except those who are 14 years of age or over and are provided 
with permits to work under specific conditions, and those who are 
12 years of age or over who are provided with permits to work on 
school holidays. Such permits are issued by the city or county 
superintendent of schools. 

The report of the superintendent of schools for 1915-16 includes 
the following statement of working permits and age and schooling 
certificates issued : 
From July 1, 1915, to September 10, 1915 (old law) ; 

Certificates to children between 15 and 16, not graduates. 182 

Certificates to children between 15 and 10, graduates ,__„_. 24 

Temporary permits to children between 12 and 15 .__„___ 22 

Certificates to graduates under 15„___ ,_„„__ ____. _„____._„__ 12 

190 

Prom September 10, 1915, to June 30, 1916 (new law) : 

Certificates to children between 15 and 16, not graduates 12(3 

Certificates to children between 15 and 16, graduates . 63 

Temporary permits to children 14 years or over_. '. ._ 196 

Certificates to graduates over 14. but not 15 years of age_. 35 

420 

Total number certificates issued _. 610 

On March 1, 1916, the office of the San Francisco superintendent 
of public schools contained the records of 503 working permits in 
force at that date, which had been issued to 449 boys and 144 girls. 
The age distribution of these children is shown in Table 174, from 
which it appears that approximately three-fourths (73 per cent) of 
the entire number are 15 years of age or over-— 70.6 per cent of the 
boys and 80.4 per cent of the gifls. 



520 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Table 174. — Age distribution of holders of ivorking permits. 







Number of children of specified ages. 




12 years 
and less 
than 13. 


13 years 
and I ess 
than 14. 


14 years 
and less 
than 15. 


15 years 
and less 
than 16. 


16 
years 


Boys. .. . . . ::.... 


449 

144 


4 
1 


12 
3 


lift 
24 


317 
115 




Girls............ 


j 






Total................................... . 


593 


5 


15 


140 


432 


1 











That the children who hold working permits are not chiefly a 
select group of foreign birth is shown in Table 175, which gives the 
distribution according to nativity. More than half of the entire 
number were born in California — 55.5 per cent. The proportion of 
foreign-born girls — 31.9 per cent (4G out of 144) — is nearly twice as 
great as that of foreign-born boys — 18 per cent (81 out of 449). 

Table 175. — Distribution of holders of worlcing permits according to nativity. 







Number of children born in specified localities. 




San Fran- 
cisco. 


Cali- 
fornia, 
outside 
of San 
Fran- 
cisco. 


United 
States, 
outside 
of Cali- 
fornia. 


Foreign 
countries. 


Not re- 
ported. 


Boys. 


449 
144 


223 

64 


36 
6 


109 
27 


81 

46 




Girls 


1 






Total 


593 


287 


42 


136 


127 


1 







More than 10 per cent of these permits were issued without secur- 
ing from the applicant a record of the grade attained in school, 
consequently it is impossible to present a satisfactory report in this 
particular. (See Table 176.) Of the 525 applicants who gave this 
information 262 boys and 73 girls, or 63.8 per cent, had attained at 
least to the seventh grade in school, 21.3 per cent (112 out of 525) 
were in the sixth grade, and the remainder were scattered through 
the lower grades. It must be regarded as unfortunate that any city 
should allow a large number of boys and girls to start out in life 
without even the minimum amount of education represented by 
graduation from the public elementary school. 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 



521 



Table 176. — Distribution of holders of working permits according to grade 
attained in school before leaving to go to work. 





Number of children who were in specified grades at time of leaving school to 
go to work. 




To- 
tal. 


Below 
grade 4. 


Grade 4. 


Grade 5. 


Grade 6. 


Grade 7. 


Grade 8. 


Gradu- 
ated from 
Eighth 
grade. 


Not re- 




A. 


B. 


A. 


B. 


A. 


B. 


A. 


B. 


A. 


B. 


ported. 


Boys 


449 
144 


2 
4 


2 

1 


6 

7 


11 
G 


31 

8 


29 

8 


54 
21 


51 
15 


59 
14 


41 
9 


25 

4 


86 
31 


52 


Girls 


16 






Total 


593 


6 


3 


13 


17 


39 


37 


75 


66 


73 


50 


29 


117 


68 







A study of Table 177, in which the holders of working permits are 
distributed according to reason assigned for going to work, suggests 
that in many instances no urgent reason existed, since 316 boys and 
118 girls — 73.2 per cent of the entire number — gave no reason. All 
of the reasons assigned appear to be valid. 

Table 177. — Distribution of holders of working permits according to reasons 
assigned for going to icork. 



Number of children 
who assigned speci- 
fied reasons. 



Total. 



Boys. 



Girls. 



Father ill 

Father ill (mother dead) 

Father mentally incapacitated 
Father not supporting family. 

Parents not supporting 

Father dead 

Parents dead 

Family deserted 

Family separated 

Family in need of help 

Not reported 

Total................... 



45 
1 
1 

16 

1 

62 

14 

10 

4 

5 

434 



593 



38 



14 

1 

53 

13 

8 

2 

4 

316 



9 

1 
2 
2 
1 
118 



144 



PLACES OF EMPLOYMENT REPORTED BY HOLDERS OF WORKING PERMITS. 



An attempt was made to study the character of the work engaged 
in and the amount of shifting about in juvenile employments in San 
Francisco. In many cases, however, only the name of the employer 
or the kind of establishment is reported, without any indication of 
the nature of the service rendered. There are no records available 
showing the employment histories of boys and girls subsequent to the 
report of first position secured. Nevertheless, certain conclusions 
may be drawn from an analysis of the places of employment re- 
ported, which follows : 



522 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

1. Number of boys reporting ; 449 

2. Character of employment specified— . 150 

Delivery wagon . 1 

Errand boy, cash boy, stock boy 91 

Exposition grounds, wheeling chairs, etc 2 

Messenger, telegraph, telephone, etc 22 

Office boy . 28 

Peddling . 1 

Selling newspapers 4 

Usher, baseball park . 1 

8 Mercantile establishments, character of employment not speci- 
fied 132 

Art dealer 1 

Athletic supplies 1 

Broker 1 

Candy, chewing gum ,__ 2 

Cleaning and dyeing 1 

Clothing 7 

Crockery , 1 

Dental supplies . : 2 

Drugs 10 

Dry goods, department stores 25 

Electrical and gas fixtures 3 

Fruit 2 

Furniture 2 

Grocery, coffee merchant, etc . 9 

Hardware 6 

Hosiery 1 

Insurance 1 

Jewelry 5 

Lime 3 

Lumber, 1 1 

Mail-order house 1 

Meat, fish, and poultry markets 10 

Millinery „ 5 

Music, phonographs, etc 2 

Optician, optical goods 7 

Photographs, photographic supplies, blue printing 8 

Produce 1 

Restanrant 2 

Sale stable 1 

Shoes 7 

Stationery, drawing materials 5 

Tailor, ladies' tailor 5 

Tobacco 1 

4. Factories, character of employment not specified 28 

Artificial plants 1 

Bags , 3 

Boxes 3 

Buttons 1 

Cones 3 

Dress patterns 1 

Firearms 1 

Fruit and vegetable canning, preserving, bottling 6 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 523 

4. Factories, character of employment not specified — Continued. 

Notions, toys, novelties, leather goods 8 

Paper boxes 2 

Suit cases . — 1 

5. Mechanical trades group 49 

Apprentices, not specified 5 

Automobiles, garage, etc 4 

Bookbinder 2 

Foundry 1 

Ironworks, shipbuilding, structural steel 15 

Lithographer „ . 1 

Machinist 1 

Plumber „ . 2 

Printer 10 

Railroad ___. 2 

Sheet-metal worker ___ 3 

Sign painter, show-card writer 2 

Stair builder 1 

6. Reported employer's name only, not identifiable 10 

7. Number not reporting on employment 80 

8. Number of girls reporting. . 144 

9. Character of employment specified 21 

Cash girl 5 

Dressmaker 2 

Messenger . 2 

Nurse girl . 3 

Office assistant . 2 

Packer _„„„_„„_„__„____ 1 

Sales girl . ,___ 5 

Waitress 1 

10. Mercantile establishments, character of employment not specified— 57 

Candy, chewing gum „, 2 

Dry goods, department store ,_==___„_ 13 

Five and ten cent store . ________ 

Fruit and vegetable canning, preserving, bottling__„__. 17 

Hardware ,„___„_„ 1 

Importers , __. ._______-_'____ 2 

Ladies' garments . =_„__=._ 4 

Lithographer . .___ . 2 

Millinery , ____________^ 8 

Seedsman, florist . ,__„_____ 2 

U. Factories, character of employment not specified ___________ 32 

Bags _ _ ____________ 12 

Baskets ;,.__—*_____.— 1 

Cigars ______________ 2 

Electrical supplies . _______________ 2 

Knitting mill ._ ___ „_«_„ 4 

Neckwear ____________ 1 

Overalls ,_„„=__— 1 

Paper boxes . . —_=_=.__„- 4 

Perfumes „ . ,____„_„_ 1 

Shirts _. . 2 

Sugar refinery 1 

Waists iika. — . 1 



524 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

12. Miscellaneous .______-. 11 

Apprentice, not specified 2 

Bakery 4 

Exposition 1 

Laundry 1 

Printing 3 

13. Number not reporting on employment 23 

14. Summary: 

Number of boys reporting 449 

Number of girls reporting 144 

Total number of holders of certificates reporting 593 

In the cases of 150 boys and 21 girls the character of employment 
is reported, and these are therefore grouped separately, as are also 
80 boys and 23 girls who make no report and 10 boys who report 
name of employer only. The analysis of the remaining cases into 
mercantile establishments, factories, trades, etc., is not wholly satis- 
factory, and yet is serviceable to an understanding of the conditions. 

Combining the cases of 150 boys in Group 2 with 132 boys in 
Group 3, and 28 boys in Group 4 with 49 boys in Group 5, it appears 
that of 449 boys, 282, or 62.4 per cent, found their first employment in 
mercantile establishments and 77, or 17.2 per cent, made their begin- 
ning in the trades and industries. (See Figure 74.) 

Combining the cases of 21 girls in Group 9 with 57 girls in 
Group 10, it appears that of 144 girls, 78, or 54.2 per cent, found their 
first employment in mercantile establishment and 43, or 29.9 per cent, 
made their beginning in factories. 

While the number of cases involved is small from a statistical point 
of view, it is worthy of note that (1) a larger proportion of boys 
than of girls find employment in mercantile establishments; (2) a 
larger proportion of girls than of boys find employment in fac- 
tories; (3) only an inconsiderable number of girls left school to enter 
domestic employment — three as nurse girls, one as waitress, two as 
dressmakers. 

The wide range of variety in places of employment suggests the 
ease with which young persons may gain a foothold in wage-earning 
occupations in San Francisco. More extensive investigations which 
have been made in other cities show, however, that employments open 
to young people under 18 years of age, and especially to those who 
are not high-school graduates, are for the most part casual, unskilled, 
poorly paid, and without definite promise of advancement to respon- 
sible and desirable positions. 

Every careful study in this field has served to emphasize the 
importance, from the point of view both of the community and the 
individual worker, of (1) prolonging the period of education at 
least to the completion of the high-school course; (2) postponing 
the entrance into wage-earning life until the individual is suffi- 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, 



525 



ciently mature to make some intelligent choice of occupation and to 
realize the significance of a termination of opportunities for school- 
ing; and (3) realization of the growing tendency in the commercial 




and industrial world to restrict entrance into desirable positions to 
those who give evidence of possessing sufficient education, maturity, 
and judgment to render responsible service. 



526 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FBANCISCO. 

CONCLUSION. 






The steps to be followed in the development of a program for 
vocational education may be analyzed as follows: (a) Vocational 
guidance, (b) prevocational education, (c) vocational schools. ' So 
far as these terms are concerned, it may be said that the first two 
have not yet received universal approval. Since no other terms 
that seem more suitable have as yet been suggested, they are used here 
simply to designate certain types of educational activity now in 
process of development. 



VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE. 



One of the significant phases of recent progress in education is in 
the development of a type of school or department designed to 
assist boys and girls of approximately the 12 to 16 years old period 
to a better understanding of their own abilities, of the opportunities 
afforded by the demand for those who can do the world's work, and 
of the best possible use to be made of such abilities and such oppor- 
tunities from the point of view of the life career,, When work with 
this object in view has been undertaken in a more or less formal 
way as a form of classroom study and through individual confer- 
ences between teacher and pupil, with or without visits to indus- 
trial and commercial establishments and individual studies and 
researches, it has been referred to as " vocational guidance." 

The importance of 'this type of work, when. conducted by properly 
prepared teachers and directors, and the practical value of the results 
achieved, have been demonstrated in numerous localities. 

It is recommended that the work, which has been so well begun 
in a few centers in the San Francisco schools, be encouraged and 
extended as rapidly as suitable persons can be found or prepared to 
direct it. 

As recommended elsewhere, the responsibility for the work in 
vocational guidance should lodge primarily with the same school 
officer who has charge of the work in manual arts and vocational 
subjects, to the end that there may be unity of aim and coordination 
of effort in these closely related fields. 



PKEVOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 



When the studies in vocations are developed to the extent that 
special equipment is provided, so that the student may participate 
in practical shop and laboratory activities on real projects selected 
from a number of typical or fundamental vocations, with a suffi- 
cient amount of time assigned to the practical work, it is believed 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 527 

that the pupil may be able to form for himself an intelligent relative 
estimate of his fitness for the various types of vocation in which he 
thus engages, as the basis for the choice of a life career. To such 
special school or class has been given the title of " prevocational 
school " or " prevocational class." 

The prefix " pre " implies a special kind of training that precedes 
vocational training, and hence is not itself vocational. It is de- 
signed for the young person who has not yet made a choice of voca- 
tion, or a choice among several opportunities for vocational educa- 
tion that are offered, and who is presumed to receive therefrom 
definite assistance in the making of such choices. 

The latter part of the term, " vocational," implies a considerable 
variety of activities and a broad outlook into possible future careers. 
In order to be entitled properly to the use of the term, a program for 
prevocational education should embrace a variety of activities suffi- 
cient to include some representation of each of the important groups 
of possible vocations, from among which it is assumed that a choice 
is to be made. There should be included something corresponding to 
the introductory phases of each of the main subdivisions of voca- 
tional education (professional, agricultural, commercial, industrial, 
and home making) , the opportunity to enter upon a definitely voca- 
tional course in some one of which presumably will be open as soon 
as a choice can be made. 

The importance of practical work in the field is realized by reflect- 
ing upon the increase in the efficiency of the vocational school that 
would follow from limiting its efforts to those who come to it after 
having made rational and fairly defined choices of future careers, 
based upon such trying out as might be afforded in a broadly con- 
ceived prevocational school. It is the common experience of the 
vocational school — whether the trade school, the business college, the 
Qormal school, or the divinity school — to find that many candidates 
apply for admission whose determination to prepare for and to 
pursue a given vocation is based upon chance considerations, rather 
than upon an ascertained or demonstrated fitness for success in the 
chosen calling. 

In the aggregate, a vast amount of time and energy, and vast sums 
of money, have been expended in attempts to prepare persons for 
occupations in which they can not be successful or contented. A con- 
siderable portion of this expenditure might be saved to the indi- 
vidual, to the school, and to society, by a well-organized plan for 
assisting young persons to " find themselves." 

It is recommended that experiments be undertaken, especially in 
the intermediate schools, to determine what types of prevocational 
classes will be most helpful to San Francisco boys and girls. 



528 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS. 



As indicated in Table 164, there are a number of occupations 
reported in the census for which there is a probable annual demand 
large enough, and in which there can probably be found sufficient 
teaching material to make practicable the organization of courses 
of instruction with the aim of preparing effective workers. The 
most important of these occupations may be grouped conveniently as 
follows : 

1. Salesmanship and business methods courses: Salesmen, sales- 
women, 231 ; retail dealers, 227 ; clerks in stores, 74 ; total, 532. 

2. Bookkeeping and clerical courses: Bookkeepers, 122; clerks, 
not in stores, 167 ; total, 389. 

3. Mechanical shop courses: Carpenters, 150; chauffeurs, 92; 
total, 242. 

It is to be noted that, with one exception, the probable demand for 
stenographers and typewriters is less than for any of the other 
classes of workers mentioned. 

It is recommended that the initial steps be taken in the develop- 
ment of practical courses designed to lead to efficiency in two groups 
of occupations: Salesmanship and business methods, carpentry and 
automobile work. Experience with these courses will be the best 
guide in determining what other courses to add later. 

It is recommended that each course of instruction be so organized 
as to aim definitely at the achievement of a certain status for the 
graduate which can be expressed in terms of ascertained require- 
ments of commercial or industrial establishments ; that the entrance 
requirements and the conditions under which the work is done be 
made sufficiently flexible to encourage the attendance of those who 
need the instruction and can profit by it; that the attempt to pre- 
pare students for college through these vocational courses be defi- 
nitely abandoned; that instructors be secured who have had suc- 
cessful and varied experience in the occupations for which it is 
proposed to prepare the students, and who have special fitness for 
the work to be undertaken. 

It is recommended that a plan be devised for the organization of 
advisory committees, as they may be needed^ to assist in the develop- 
ment of the various types of school and courses of study that may be 
hereafter determined upon. Such committees should include repre- 
sentatives of employers and workers in each important group of 
occupations for which it is proposed to organize courses. The com- 
mittees should be requested to meet with the director of vocational 
edn cation for the purpose of establishing standards and require- 
ments, planning: courses of study and methods of instruction, and 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 529 

maintaining proper relations with commercial and industrial estab- 
lishments and with organizations of workers. 

It is recommended that further study be made of the possibility 
of further development of opportunities and facilities for vocational 
education in the evening schools, of establishing various types of 
continuation classes, short unit courses, and dull-season courses for 
the benefit of wage earners. 

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 
VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE. 

The work which has been begun in a few centers should be en- 
couraged and extended as rapidly as suitable persons can be found 
or prepared to direct it. 

The work in vocational guidance, the manual arts, and vocational 
subjects should be developed under a broad, progressive policy, in- 
suring unity of aim and coordination of effort in these closely related 
fields. 

PBEVOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 

In recognizing the prevocational aim in grades seven, eight, and 
nine, there should be provided a variety of activities sufficient to 
include some representation of each of the important groups of pos- 
sible vocations from among which it is assumed that a choice is to 
be made. 

A complete plan, when finally worked out, should include the 
introductory phases of each of the main subdivisions of vocational 
education: Professional, agricultural, commercial, industrial, and 
home making. 

The existing facilities for manual training, fine arts, home eco- 
nomics, etc., should be utilized as the basis for developing prevoca- 
tional courses. 

Experiments should be undertaken, especially in the intermediate 
schools, to determine what types of prevocational classes will be 
most helpful. 

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 

Special vocational courses should be developed in salesmanship, 
business methods, carpentry, and automobile work. 

The development of further vocational courses should be based 
on actual experience with these courses. 

Each vocational course should aim definitely at the achievement of 
a certain status for the graduate which can be expressed in terms 
of ascertained requirements of commercial or industrial establish- 
ments. 

93S15— 17— 34 



530 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

The entrance requirements and the conditions under which the 
work is to be done should be made sufficiently flexible to encourage 
the attendance of those who need the instruction and can profit by it. 

The attempt to prepare students for college through these voca- 
tional courses should be definitely abandoned 

Instructors in vocational courses should have had successful and 
varied experience in the occupations for which it is proposed to pre- 
pare the students, and should have special fitness for the work to be 
undertaken. 

Advisory committees should be organized to assist in the develop- 
ment of the various types of school and courses of study that may 
be determined upon. These committees should include representa- 
tives of employers and workers in each important group of occupa- 
tions concerned. 

Further study should be made of vocational courses for the even- 
ing schools, continuation classes, short unit courses, and dull-seasoB 
roursea 



Chapter XV. 

EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 



TIDE OP IMMIGRATION . 

San Francisco in common with other great cities of the country 
has profited much in its economic development from the advent of 
the immigrant. From the golden days of M9 down to the present, 
San Francisco has been the goal of travelers from all the world. 
They have come in sailing vessels around the Horn, in the slow- 
moving prairie schooner, by rail, or by steam, from the continents 
that border the Atlantic, as well as from the lands of the Orient, 
until San Francisco to-day is one of the cosmopolitan cities of the 
world. As the East meets the West at Suez, so the West meets the 
East at San Francisco, although since the advent of the new regime 
in China with its consequent dress modification, much of the quaint 
internationalncss of costume of the old San Francisco has disap- 
peared. 

As one follows the list of city officials, or runs through the names 
of persons prominent in business and civic circles, one realizes some- 
thing of the debt that San Francisco owes to foreigners. These were 
people of the old immigration, when the process of assimilation pro- 
ceeded naturally and steadily, when the stranger of his own accord 
learned our language and adopted our manners, customs, and stand- 
ards of life. With the change in the character of the immigrant tide, 
however, camo new peoples less inclined to what might be called 
automatic assimilation. It is this new population which gives rise 
to the immigrant-education side of the survey. What is the character 
of this group, and what forces are operating to meet the new situa- 
tion occasioned thereby ? 

A study of the census reports shows the following facts with 
reference to the population of San Francisco, Table 178 : 

Table ITS.— Population and nativity. 
POPULATION. 

Total population. 1910 416,912 

1900 ___ 342, 782 

1890 298. 997 

531 



532 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Increase, 1900-1910 ' 74, 130 

Per cent of increase , _„ 21. 6 

Increase, 1890-1900 ,__ 43, 785 

Per cent of increase _„„_ . , ,_„ 14. 6 



o 



2 o 






O U 

t-< cr 



CO 




NATIVITY. 

Chinese, 1910 10, 582 

1900 — — __„______.__^_ 13,954 

1890 — — 25,833 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 533 

Japanese, 1910 4, 518 

1900 1,781 

1890 - 590 

Per 
Number. cent. 

Native white— Native parentage, 1910 115,359 27.7 

1900 83, 558 24. 4 

Native white — Foreign or mixed parentage, 1910 153,781 36.9 

1900 137,556 40.1 

Native white— Foreign parentage, 1910 107, 293 25. 7 

Native white— Mixed parentage, 1910 46,488 11.2 

Foreign-born white, 1910 130,874 31.4 

1900 - 104,264 30.4 

Some of the facts relating to the distribution of population as 
regards color or race, parentage, nativity, as well as inability to 
speak English for 1900 and 1910, are shown graphically in the 
diagram, figure 75. 

ORIENTAL POPULATION. \!*T~. 

Striking changes are thus evident in the character of the oriental 
population. The decrease in the number of Chinese, from 25,833 
in 1890 to 13,954 in 1900 and to 10,582 in 1910, seems to presage the 
gradual disappearance of the Chinese question as an economic factor 
in the life of the west coast. On the other hand, the marked in- 
crease in the number of Japanese, from 590 in 1890 to 1,781 in 1900 
and to 4,518 in 1910, suggests the appearance of a new economic 
problem. Corresponding figures for the whole State are even more 
significant. Whereas the number of Chinese has decreased from 
72,472 in 1890 to 36,248 in 1910, the number of Japanese has in- 
creased from 1,147 to 41,356 during the same years. It is worthy to 
note in passing that the attitude in some quarters toward the 
Japanese — particularly on the part of the labor-union group— seems 
decidedly more temperate than it was a few years ago. 

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION. 

From these census figures stated above it is apparent that the 
foreign-born white group is the largest single element in the popu- 
lation of the city, for there are 130,874 who fall in that category, as 
opposed to 115,256 native white of native parentage, 107,293 native 
white of foreign parentage, and 46,488 native white of mixed parent- 
age. What difference of treatment, if any, appears in the conduct of 
the school on account of this race inheritance will be discussed in 
subsequent pages. 



534 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



The distribution of the 180,874 foreign-born whites appears id 
Table 179. 

Table 179. — ISan Francisco — Distribution of foreign-born white population 
according to country of birth? 



I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


Country. 


Number. 


Per cent of 
total for- 
eign-born 
white. 


Per cent ol 

foreign- 
born white 
children in 
schools. 1 




1,347 

4,641 

474 

5,687 

3,118 

9,815 

1,846 

6,244 

24, 137 

2,274 

500 

1,2*7 

23, 151 

16,918 

1,763 

3,769 

570 

4,640 

3,668 

1,170 

6,969 

2,587 

401 

3,938 


1.3 
3.5 

.4 
4.3 
2.3 
7.5 
1.4 
4.8 
18.4 
1.7 

.4 
1.0 
17.7 
12.9 
1.3 
2.8 

.4 
3.5 
2.8 

.9 
5.3 
2.0 

.3 
3.0 












Canada (other) 


2. ft 


Denmark . 


2.3 


England - . 


8.6 


Finland 






4.0 




26.6 






Holland... 










13.9 


Italy 


17.9 








1.8 


Portugal 




Russia 


3.2 


Scotland 


3.3 


Spain 






4.0 






Wales 




Others l 


11.6 






Total 


130,874 


99.9 


100.2 







1 Census, 1910. * Adapted from table, from Report of the Immigration Commission, v. 33, p. 292. 

These census figures show the Germans (24,137) to be the most 
numerous of the foreign-born white inhabitants of San Francisco, 
with the Irish (23,151) following close on their heels, and the Italians 
(16,918) in third place. English (9,815), Swedes (6,969), French 
(6,244), and Canadians other than French (5,687) form the next 
group. Then come Austrians (4,641), Russians (4,640), Norwegians 
(3,769), Scotch (3,668), and Danes (3,118). No other nationality 
is represented by as many as 3,000 persons. While no figures are 
available showing the trend in population since this last census year, 
personal inquiry among the editors of the foreign papers and other 
persons prominent in the foreign colony seems to warrant the belief 
that there has been considerable increase among the Italians. Rus- 
sians, and Greeks. 



FOREIGN SCHOOL POPULATION. 



Column III of the above table gives the per cents of each of the**; 
population figures in comparison with the total number of foreisrr* 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGKANTj 535 

born whites living in the city. In Column IV are found per cents 
representing the nativity and race of fathers of pupils in the San 
Francisco schools on a particular day in December, 1908. Obviously 
the dates of record in Columns III and IV are not identical, but they 
are sufficiently close to provide some basis for comparison. In certain 
of the nationalities — notably the Germans and the Italians — wide 
divergence is shown. Such divergence indicates perhaps a larger 
proportion of children in the population, or perhaps greater regu- 
larities in the school attendance. Certain other peoples — especially 
the English Canadians, the Norwegians, and the Swedes — show a 
considerably smaller proportion in school than the population of the 
city would appear to warrant. 

The cosmopolitan character of the population of San Francisco 
may be readily seen from Table 180, which shows the rank of the city 
in the foreign-born population of certain linguistic groups among 
the cities of the country having over 100,000 population. It should 
be kept in mind that at the time of the census of 1910 San Francisco 
was the eleventh city in size in the country. 

Table 180. — Rank of San Francisco in foreign-bom population of certain tin 
guistic groups among cities having 100,000 inhabitants or over. 

Swedish____ 7 

Russian 8 

Dutch and Frisian... 10 

Gerraan_ 11 

Syrian and Arabic— 13 

Turkish ,__ 11 

The last authoritative analysis of the racial distribution of San 
Francisco school children is found in the voluminous report of the 
Immigration Commission, 1910. In many respects this is unsatis- 
factory for this present discussion, since it covers the number of 
pupils enumerated as being in actual attendance on a specific day 
early in December, 1908. 

: The distribution of pupils in San Francisco schools by races is 
given in Table 181. In this table distinction is made between the 
pupils having native and those having foreign-born parents, and 
among the latter special mention is made of the individual races 
which have as many as 200 representatives in the schools. 

1 San. Francisco is really the third French city of the country, because in Fall River 
and Lowell, ranking second and third, respectively, the French-speaking: population te 
almost exclusively French Canadian. 



Chinese.^- 


.- 1 


Albanian- 


5 


Finnish 


.. 2 


French 


l 5 


Japanese. . 


- 2 


Italian 


6 


Danish _, 


b 3 


Norwegian- Id 


6 


Spanish 


._ 3 


Slovenian 


.-— 6 


Qreefc - 


._ 4 


Portuguese — ___ 


7 



536 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Table 181. — Nativity of school children. 





Pupils. 


General nativity and raco of father of pupil. 


Public schools. 


Parochial 
schools. 




Number. 


Per 
cent. 


Number. 


Per 
cent. 


Native-born: 

White 


14,066 
76 


41.9 
.2 


1,422 


45.1 


Negro and Indian 










Total native-born 


14,142 


42.2 


„ 










Foreign-born: 

Canadian (other than French) 


502 

270 

452 

1,541 

862 

4,128 

824 

260 

589 

2,646 

2,274 

1,157 

361 

634 

217 

939 

1,749 


1.5 

.8 

1.3 

4.6 

2.6 

12.3 

2.5 

.8 

1.8 

7.9 

6.8 

3.4 

1.1 

1.9 

.6 

2.8 

5.2 


39 




Chinese . . ^ 




Danish 






English 


73 
35 
134 




French 




German 




Hebrew, German 




Hebrew^ Polish 






Hebrew, Russian 






i Irish 


1,222 
53 

4* 




Italian, North 




Italian', South 




Norwegian 




Scotch^ 


26 




Spanish A morgan ........ .... 




Swedish 






All others 


104 








Total foreign-born 


19,405 


57.8 
103.0 


1,734 


54.9 






Grand total 


33,547 


3,156 


100.0 







An examination of this table for the public-school attendance 
shows that 41.9 per cent of the pupils recorded had native parents 
and 57.8 per cent had foreign parents. Among the pupils of foreign 
parents there is a considerable diversity of races. One race, the 
German, stands out noticeably from the others and is represented by 
12.3 of the whole number of pupils. Next in order of numbers come 
the Italians. If the North and South Italians be united into one 
group, they form 10.2 per cent of the whole number of pupils. This 
race is followed in numbers by the Irish with 7.9 per cent of the 
whole number of pupils, but no other race has as many as 5 per cent 
of the averages. The table terminates with a collective group " all 
others," which also contains a considerable number of individual 
races. They are: Arabian, 2; Armenian, 3; Bohemian and Mora- 
vian, 72 ; Bulgarian, 4 ; Canadian, French, 92 ; Croatian, 12 ; Delma- 
tian, 16; Dutch, 78; Filipino, 8; Finnish, 61; Flemish, 2; Greek, 32; 
Hawaiian, 4 ; Hebrew, Eoumanian, 91 ; Hebrew, other, 265 ; Hindu, 2 ; 
Japanese, 108; Korean, 1; Lithuanian, 4; Magyar, 70; Mexican, 57; 
Negro, 4 ; Polish, 70 ; Portuguese, 81 ; Roumanian, 22 ; Russian, 125 ; 
Ruthenian, 4; Scotch-Irish, 5; Servian, 13; Slovak, 22; Slovenian, 
80; Spanish, 79; Syrian, 18; Turkish, 3, and Welsh, 87. 




EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 537 

While too much weight should not be given this table as indicating 
probable conditions in 1916, it presents strange facts regarding con- 
ditions at the time the data were collected, facts which probably are 
not fundamentally different today. This table shows the distribu- 
tion of attendance at the moment of enumeration to be 42.2 per cent 
for children of native parents, as opposed to 57.8 per cent for chil- 
dren of foreign parents. Reference to the census figures for 1910, 
a date which differs from the enumeration date noted above by about 
a year and a half, shows the population of native parentage to be 
115,359, while the population of foreign birth, together with that 
where both parents were foreign, was 238,167. Leaving the 46,488 
of mixed parentage entirely out of consideration, we see that the 
persons of foreign parentage are more than twice as numerous as 
those of native parentage, while the school populations under these 
captions are to each other as 58 to 42. 

This seems to indicate an unduly small proportion of foreign chil- 
dren in the schools as compared with the number of foreign-born 
inhabitants in the city. This situation may be partially accounted 
for by the fact that in all cities of the United States with over 
100,000 population the per cent of children under 15 years of age is 
26.6, whereas in San Francisco it is only 18.9, Portland being the 
only city in this group which shows a smaller proportion, where the 
corresponding figure is 18.8. More significant still is the proportion 
of foreign-born children under 15 years of age. In San Francisco 
only 3.1 per cent of the foreign-born children fall within this age 
group, as opposed to 6.3 per cent for cities of over 100,000 popula- 
tion. Among other large cities of the country, Louisville alone shows 
a smaller per cent of foreign-born children within this age group. 

AGE AND GRADE DISTRIBUTION. 

The characteristics of the different races as regards age and grade 
distribution are shown in Table 182, which is based upon total public 
school attendance on a day early in December, 1908. 1 Division by 
grades, in view of the large number of elements concerned, can be 
most conveniently made by a grouping of the elementary grades into 
primary and grammar grades. In this form the table gives the de- 
tails for the grade distribution of the pupils by race : 

1 Report of the United States Immigration Commission, vol. 33, p. 293. 



538 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

Table 182.— Nativity and grade distribution of pupils. 



General nativity and race of father of 
pupil. 


Number of pupils. 


Per cent. 


Primary. 


Gram- 
mar. 


High. 


Total. 


Pri- 
mary. 


Gram- 
mar. 


High 


Native-born: 

White. . 


8,044 
65 


4,895 
21 


1,088 


14,027 
76 


67.3 

72.4 


34.9 
27.6 


?.* 












Total native-born 


8,099 


4,916 


1,088 


14, 103 


57.4 


34.9 


7.1 






p oreign-born: 

Canadian (other than French) .... 
Chinese 


240 
235 
249 
856 
533 

2,239 
359- 
130 
410 

1,663 

1,710 
. 1,023 
202 
328 
163 
530 

1,122 


202 

24 

187 

591 

295 

1,656 

345 

118 

158 

859 

519 

, 129 

138 

259 

48 

367 

488 


67 
11 
15 

94 
31 

229 

117 
12 
20 

123 
35 
• ■ 4, 
18 
45 
5 
42 

132 


499 

270 

451 

1,541 

859 

4,124 

821 

260 

5*8 

2,645 

2,264 

1, 156 

358 

632 

216 

939 

1,742 


48.1 
87.0 
55.2 
55.5 
62.0 
54.3 
43.7 
60.0 
69.7 
62.9 
75.5 
88.5 
56.4 
51,9 
75.5 
56.4 
64.4 


40.5 
8.9 
41.6 
38.4 
34.3 
40.2 
42.0 
45.4 
26.9 
32.5 
22.9 
11.2 
38.5 
41. 
22.2 
39.1 
28.1 


11.4 
4.1 


Danish 


3.3 


English. .... 


6.1 


French 


3.6 


German 


5.6 


Eebrew, German.. 


14.3 


Hebrew, Polish 


4/6 


Hebrew, Russian. ....... 


3. 4 


Irish 


4. 7 


Italian, North 


1.5 


Italian, South 


.3 


Norwegian -: 


5.0 


Scotch ............ 


.. %A 


Spanish American 


2.3 


Swedish 


'4. 6 


All others. 


7.6 






Total foreign-born . . 


11,992 


6,383 


990 


19,365 


61.9 


33.0 


5.1 






Grand total 


20,091 


11,299 


2,078 


33,468 

. . .. • 


60.0 


33.8 


6.2 







The table shows that the primary grades contain a somewhat 
smaller percentage of all the pupils having native white fathers than 
those having foreign fathers. The percentage of pupils in the pri- 
mary grades is noticeably high in the case of the Italians, Chinese, 
and the Spanish Americans. In the grammar grades there is less 
divergence between the aggregate for the native born than for the 
foreign born, children of foreign-born parents being slightly less 
numerously represented than those of the native born. The indi- 
vidual races vary very widely. Many of them have in this grade a 
number considerably in excess of the proportion found for children 
of native white parents. Others have very small proportions, notice- 
ably below those for the foreign group as a whole. Somewhat similar 
contrasts are given in the high school. These schools contain 7.8 
per cent of the children of native birth and 5.1 per cent of those of 
foreign parentage. Among individual races the proportion of high 
school pupils is very large among the English Canadians and amon^r 
rhe German Hebrews. It is very small in the case of Spanish 
Americans and Italians. 



FOREIGN COLONIES. 



Most of the foreign races living in San Francisco are merged 
physically in the general population mixture. Some, however, from 
social or linguistic reasons, subjective or objective, segregate them- 



EDUCATION 0"F THE IMMIGRANT. 



539 



selves in particular localities and constitute veritable foreign col- 
onies. This is true especially in the case of Chinese, Japanese. 
Filipinos, Greeks, Italians, Mexicans, Portuguese, Russians, and to 
a certain extent the Polish Jews. Such colonies create decidedly 
artificial barriers to the influence of American manners, customs, 
standards of living, ideals, and language, and render the process of 
assimilation increasingly difficult and slow. 

In the case of the Filipinos, Mexicans, and Portuguese the numbers- 
are fortunately not large, but the problem as far as these national- 
ities are concerned is none the less real. With the Greeks assimila- 
tion is largely a question of reaching the adult males, for there are 
few Greek women in San Francisco, and the number of children of 
school age is thus remarkably small in comparison with the tot a] 
population belonging to that race. On September 5, 191G, there 
were only 28 children of Greek parentage enrolled in the three school? 
in sections of the city where the Greek population is found, together 
with one or two in each of several other schools, according to record? 
compiled in the superintendent's office. 

CITIZENSHIP. 

The naturalization status of foreign-born white males in 8an 
Francisco for 1910 and 1900 is shown in the subjoined Table 18a 
and the accompanying diagram, Figure 76 : 

Table 183. — Foreign-born white males £1 years of aye and uoer classified a<- 
cording to citizenship in San Francisco — 1900 and 1910. 



Total number 

Naturalized 

Having first papers 

Alien 

Citizenship not reported. 



1910 


1900 


' Per cent. 


1910 


1900 


75, 768 
36,375 
10,681 
21, 872 
6,840 


56,102 

38,375 

2,357 

9,160 

8,210 


100 

48 

14 I 

28.9 

9.0 


100.0 
68.4 
4.2 
16.3 
11.1 



Al curious situation is presented here. The number of naturalized 
foreigners actually decreased between 1900 and 1910. This may be 
explained by assuming that many of the foreigners who had acquired 
citizenship moved away from the city at the time of the fire and 
failed to return, while the number of subsequently naturalized citi- 
zens was not sufficient to counterbalance the exodus. It is not so easy, 
however, to account for the remarkable increase in those who had 
taken out their first papers. Careful inquiry failed to elicit any 
satisfactory explanation of this phenomenon. It is all the more 
striking when one contrasts -these.. figures with the corresponding 



540 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 



figures for the State as a whole, and for other important cities within 
the Commonwealth. 

In California the number of first-paper holders among the foreign- 
born white population amounted to 9.3 per cent; for Sacramento, 
7.5 per cent ; Los Angeles, 9.2 per cent ; and Oakland, 10.4 per cent, 
as opposed to 14.1 per cent in the case of San Francisco. In 1900 
San Francisco occupied a very low position in this feature, 4.2 per 
cent, as opposed to 10.7 per cent for the State as a whole, whereas in 
1910, 14.1 per cent of its foreign born had taken out their first papers, 
in contrast with 9.3 per cent for the State as a whole. Activity on 
the part of some of the foreign-born groups in an effort to combat the 



SflN FRANCISCO 

CITIZENSHIP StRTUSOFFOREtG-N-BORNWHSTE MRLES 
census mto 21 TERRS OF R&E AND OVER- WOOflNOlUO 




TOTAL 
NUMBER 



NftTURRl 
1ZE0 j 

HAVIN6 
FIRST < 
PAPERS 



1W* 



© 



Fig. 76.— The number of naturalized foreigners in San Francisco decreased between 
1900 and 1910. During the same period there was a notable increase in the number 
of aliens and in the number of those who had taken out first citizenship papers. 

prohibition movement may account for some of these first-paper 
declarants, but when all obvious factors have been considered there 
are still strange conditions to be explained. 

INABILITY TO SPEAK ENGLISH. 



The increase in inability to speak English among the foreign-born 
population of San Francisco is a matter of considerably more con- 
cern. From 1900 to 1910, the foreign-born population of the city 
grew from 104,254 to 130,874. During the same decade the number 
of those unable to use the English language more than doubled 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 541 

among the white population, increasing from 4,251 to 9J537. 1 
Whether this great change can be accounted for under the explana- 
tion offered aboA r e regarding the actual decrease in the number of 
foreigners who had taken out their citizenship papers (removal from 
the city at the time of the fire) or whether it indicates a breaking 
down in the unconscious means of assimilating the foreigner, it is 
impossible to say. The existence of a similar phenomenon in other 
cities of the country suggests that the latter may be a more potent 
factor. 

While no figures are obtainable for the number of Chinese and 
Japanese in San Francisco who can not speak English, for Cali- 
fornia the number of the former decreased from 17,593 in 1900 to 
17,096 in 1910, and the number of the latter increased from 4,576 
in 1900 to 14,471 in 1910. These figures represent, respectively, in 
1910, 47.2 per cent of all the Chinese in the State, and 35.0 per cent 
of all the Japanese. Assuming that the State ratio held true for 
San Francisco, there would have been 4,995 Chinese and 1,581 Jap- 
anese in that city unable to speak English in 1910. 2 

In 1910, therefore, San Francisco had approximately 6,500 persons 
of the yellow races and 9,537 foreign-born whites who were unable 
to speak the English language. Since that date, with the possible 
exception of the Chinese, the numbers in these groups have probably 
grown appreciably, although no figures are available for measuring 
this increase accurately. Such a situation, with thousands of aliens 
within the city limits, foreign in manners, customs, standards of liv- 
ing, language, and allegiance, is not civically sane, economically wise, 
or nationally safe. 

Knowledge of the English language is fundamental to any assimi- 
lation of the foreign element. For this, at least, the municipality 
has a certain responsibility. Whether or not the State and the Na- 
tional Government should share this responsibility is a matter still 
to be determined. Certain facts are undeniable: These foreigners 
are living in San Francisco. They are subject to city control, and 
accountable to the community for observance of regulations laid 
down by the police, public-health authorities, and other departments 
of the municipal government. Although ignorance of the law is no 
excuse, the city can appreciably lighten the burden of enforcing its 
regulations if it will offer the foreigner adequate opportunity for 
learning the language and standards of the country, and then will 
secure the proper coordination of forces to make it worth his while 
to acquire this information. 

1 See figure 75, p. 532. 

- Under the same assumption the corresponding figures for 1900 would have been 5,400 
eod 803, respectively. For graphic representation, see figure 75, p. 532. 



542 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



With these facts definitely before us, it is pertinent to inqiiire what 
San Francisco is doing to meet the situation thus created. 

ASSIMILATION PROBLEM. 

The problem naturally presents two distinct aspects: (1) What is 
being done for children of school age? (2) What facilities are pro- 
vided for persons beyond school age ? 

For purposes of this survey, in order to ascertain conditions con- 
cerning foreign children of school age, visits were paid to 12 day 
schools, to wit : Bryant, Daniel Webster, Ethan Allen, Garfield, Jean 
Parker, Lincoln, Monroe, Oriental, Patrick Henry, Rincon, Wash- 
ington, and Washington Irving. While foreign children are found 
in other elementary schools of the city, the schools noted above were 
selected after consultation with the staff in the superintendent's office 
as being most typical of the foreign districts and as including:, mosi 
of the principal schools which foreign children frequent. 

ENBOLLMENT OF FOREIGN PUPILS. 

Table 184 shows enrollment, number of foreign- born pupils, num- 
ber of children of foreign parents, and number of different nationali- 
ties represented in 11 schools, which, however, differ slightly from 
the schools visited in pursuance of the survey. These data were col- 
lected by the board of education in April, 1916. 



Table 184. — Total enrollment, number of foreign-bom pupils, number of pupils 
of foreign parents, number of different nationalities in certain selected 
schools, April, 1916. 



School 


Enroll- 
ment. 


Foreign 
born. 


Children 
of foreign 
parents. 


Number of 
•iiiftrt-nt 
forejun 
nationali- 
ties repre- 
sented. 


Ethan Allen. 


78 
876 
650 
770 
1,116 
409 
860 
810 
765 
504 
484 


14 

177 
110 
160 

77 
173 

95 

68 
188 
186 

55 


64 

720 
480 
655 
614 
355 
556 
501 
574 
457 
315 


11 


Garfield . 


IS 


Hancock 


12 


Jean Parker. 


29 


Monroe. „ 


17 


Patrick Henry 


15 




12 




11 




9 




16 




20 






Total 


7,322 


1,303 


5,291 









Thirty-two different foreign peoples are here represented, as- 
suming that Hawaii, the Philippines, and Porto Rico are foreign. 
The list of countries represented follows : Argentina, Australia, Aus- 
tria, Balkan States, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, England, 
France. Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hawaii, Holland, India, Ire- 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 543 

land, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Philippine Islands, Po- 
land, Porto Rico, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Servia, Spain, Sweden, 
Switzerland. 

DIFFERENTIATION OF COTJBSES OF STUDY. 

« 

In these 11 schools 17.8 per cent of the pupils were actually born 
abroad and 72.1 per cent of them are children of foreign parents. 
It is thus evident that a very considerable foreign influence sur- 
rounds the home and family life of the major part of the pupils of 
these particular districts. They come from homes which are not 
American, where the civic, political, and spiritual ideals are not 
American, yet they are assumed to be on the same level as children 
from families which by long residence in the country have pre- 
sumably become imbued with the spirit of Americanism. While it 
is conceivable that the foreign standard in some respects may be 
higher than the American standard, the point to note is that it is 
different 

If the ultimate effect of the school on all the individual children 
is to be substantially the same, whatever the natural inheritance or 
environment may have been, it would not seem unreasonable to 
differentiate the school work of the foreign child from that of the 
American child. Mathematics, nature study, and other branches of 
the more or less exact sciences would be the same whatever the na- 
tional inheritance of the pupil. English in its various phases, how- 
ever, and the so-called social sciences would seem to need special 
emphasis in order to adapt them to meet the requirements of the 
foreign child. 

Further development of this point as regards the social sciences 
more properly belongs to the field of another investigator, and its 
particular significance will be discussed there. Suffice it to say at 
this juncture, however, that a search through the pages of the San 
Francisco "Course of Study for the Day Elementary Schools, Au- 
gust, 1911," as well as the supplementary publication of January, 
1915, fails to reveal any provision for differentiating the instruction 
of the child of foreign parents from that of the native-born child. 
Inquiry at several schools likewise failed, with one exception, to 
bring out any conscious emphasis on the part of the principal in 
administrating the formal courses of study so far as the foreign cle- 
ment of the school was concerned. Yet in one school which was 
reported to have hardly a dozen real Americans in its classes the 
principal said: "We have to fight to make them obey the law, es- 
pecially among the — " (naming one of the dominant foreign groups 
in the city). 



544 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

FAILURE TO MEET PROBLEM. 

In the face of a problem so definitely stated it is pertinent to ask 
why the school authorities have taken no formal steps to meet the 
difficulty. Further emphasis is thrown on the same question by the 
statement of the health officer of the city, who complains about the 
imperviousness of some of the foreign peoples to his efforts to enforce 
the regulations of the board of health. Some of this imperviousness 
arises from mere language ignorance, but some is due to absolute 
disregard of society's rights. The " Land of Liberty " is mistakenly 
interpreted to signify absolute personal license .to do as one pleases 
despite any public interest which may be involved. 

AMERICANIZING THE SECOND GENERATION. 

Some light is cast upon this problem of Americanization in the 
second generation by data obtained from the Ethan Allen (parental) 
School. On September 1, 1916^ 41 out of 57 in attendance on that 
day were either foreign born or the children of foreign-born parents, 
the majority being Italian. Forty-one out of 57 represent a con- 
siderably greater proportion (71.9 per cent) than the children of 
foreign parents who are of the total school population in the public 
schools (57.8 per cent). One should nevertheless be chary about 
basing too radical conclusions on this difference, for it is undoubtedly 
true that American children who might be sent to this parental 
school escape this penalty altogether by transferring to a parochial 
school. Despite the large proportion of foreign children in this 
parental school, no special efforts are put forth to imbue the pupils 
with the true spirit or ideals of Americanism, at least so far as 
inquiry at the school or observation in its classes could show. 

MONKOE SCHOOL. 

In contrast to the general apathy of action in extra school activity 
it is interesting to note the work at the Monroe School. Here much 
has been done of a civic or social-center nature to utilize the resources 
of the school for the benefit of the neighborhood — a locality popu- 
lated largely by families of Italians, Germans, French, Eussians, and 
Scandinavians. While there was only one class in the evening school 
for foreigners learning English last year, there were gymnasium 
clubs for small boys, large boys, and girls, classes in rug weaving, 
sewing, chorus singing, and ukelele instruction, Italian and Spanish, 
and a dramatic club. These groups were all full and each had a 
waiting list. 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 545 

At the time the school was visited — August 30, 1916 — none of this 
class or club work had been started in the school building, although 
some of the teachers were attempting to hold their groups together 
by meeting in quarters outside. The new regulations for control of 
neighborhood centers proposed for 1916-17 are apparently respon- 
sible for the delay in organising the work. Further discussion of 
this proposed plan will be found in another section of the survey. 1 

In previous years efforts have been made to gather a group of 
Italian women in the afternoon, but opposition on the part of the 
men to the women and girls going out at all for such purposes has 
thus far rendered all attempts of this nature of little avail. Syste- 
matic efforts to demonstrate the harmless and at the same time 
helpful character of these classes are evidently necessary. 

ORIENTAL SCHOOL. 

In considering the question of Americanizing the foreigner 
through influences which play upon the child in the elementary 
school, one's thoughts instinctively turn to the Oriental School. In 
reality this is a Chinese school, for since the spring of 1907 Japanese 
have not been in attendance. In consequence of a resolution of the 
board of education passed October 11, 1906, the board and the super- 
intendent of schools were invited to Washington by President Roose- 
velt to consider certain questions raised by the Japanese regarding 
the operation of this resolution by which principals were directed 
" to send all Chinese, Japanese, and Korean children to the Oriental 
Public School." This resolution was directly based upon a para- 
graph in the State school law which, in the edition of 1915, reads 
thus : 

The governing body of any school district shall have power * * * to 
establish separate schools for Indian children, and for children of Chinese or 
Mongolian descent. When such separate schools are established, Indian, Mon- 
golian or Chinese children must not be admitted into any other school. — School 
Law of California, 1915, sec. 1662, par. 3. 

This original resolution of the board of education was framed to 
meet certain exigencies arising from the presence of over-age Japa- 
nese boys and youth among small children in the elementary schools. 
By limiting the over-age for children of alien birth to 3 years beyond 
the normal age for entering any one of the eight grades of the ele- 
mentary school, the board met some of the difficulties of the situation. 
For alien children affected by this restriction or otherwise deficient 
in knowledge of English, a number of schools were set apart where 
special provisions were made for their instruction, and they were 
not allowed to attend other schools. Seven schools were designated 

1 See Chapter IX. 
93S15— 17 35 



546 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKAXCISCO. 

for this purpose, while the ungraded classes in five other schools 
were opened to such alien children. In consequence of these nego- 
tiations and resolutions, Japanese children are not found among the 
pupils at the Oriental School. 

At the time the school was visited in August, 1916, there were 690 * 
pupils on the register, with 656 present on that particular day. Of 
these, 213 were born in China, 411 were born in continental United 
States, and 32 were born elsewhere, or the places of birth were not 
reported. This information was obtained by the investigator 
through directly questioning the children in each of the 15 class- 
rooms. Official records of the school are not kept in such manner as 
to show these facts, although the principal has a personal record 
which differentiates native and foreign-born children. Inasmuch as 
names were entered here chronologically according to date of 
original enrollment, it would have been a matter of considerable diffi- 
culty to obtain even from these unofficial records satisfactory infor- 
mation as to the nativity by classes. 

One is struck by the great preponderance of boys in the school 
(466) in comparison with the number of girls (229). There are 
relatively few Chinese women in this country, and almost no girls 
are brought in. Boys seem to seep through from abroad despite the 
care exercised by the immigration officials, for nearly a third of this 
school is composed of boys born in China (213), yet it is hardly 
possible that the parents of all these boys belong to the "preferred" 
classes, i. e., merchants, students, travelers. It is interesting to note 
that in one of the classes, which was made up entirely of boys, only 
6 out of 33 were living with their parents, and all but 4 of these fel- 
lows were born in China. 

This school presents a striking instance of lack of course-of -study 
adjustment to meet the peculiar needs of the pupils. Yet here is a 
group which is racially decidedly homogeneous, and thus presents 
an unusual opportunity for course-of-study adjustment along racial 
lines. Almost all are Chinese, with a slight sprinkling of Mexicans 
and some other races. Many of these pupils do not speak English 
when they come to school, yet the course of study which they follow 
(according to the statement of the principal of the school) is the 
regular course prepared for the elementary schools of San Francisco. 

With the language handicap which weighs heavily upon these 
foreign children, it is difficult to see how the regular course of study 
can be covered satisfactorily. The character of the oral English in 
the eighth grade would certainly seem to strengthen this conclusion. 
Pupils of this class gave a flag salute in the presence of the investi- 

1 Official records for the first montb in the school year 1916-17 give 695 enrolled, 466 
boys and 229 girls. 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 547 

gator, followed by repetition by the class of the oath of allegiance to 
the United States. This salute was performed in such a perfunctory 
fashion that it was absolutely impossible to catch a word that was 
uttered. An effort was made to ascertain what this ceremony meant. 
The teacher was asked to indicate her best pupil, and the question 
was put to him. In this particular case no reply at all was forth- 
coming, and it is extremely doubtful if he understood the English. 
Various other pupils were asked the same question, with only slightly 
more favorable results on the linguistic side, but no more satisfactory 
replies were received as to the substance of the question. 

Although it may be claimed that a certain allowance should be 
made for the strangeness of the questioner, the test is exactly the 
same that the individual pupil must face outside the school, and the 
fact remains that these eighth-grade pupils did not respond, whether 
through language ignorance or through failure to appreciate or to 
state the significance of the flag salute and the oath of allegiance. 

The whole episode raises the question as to the adaptation of sub- 
ject matter and methods to meet the needs of different racial groups. 
This is merely a phase of the larger problem — adaptation of courses 
of study to conform to varying individual or group needs — but. the 
discussion of this larger problem does not fall within the scope of 
this particular aspect of the survey. 

Admittedly one of the great problems of Americanization is con- 
cerned with the second generation, where the restraining influences 
of the foreign civilization are sloughed off before corresponding con- 
serving ideals have been built up in the newer civilization. Unless 
the day schools — and chiefly the elementary schools — meet this prob- 
lem with the younger generation, the ultimate Americanization, in 
the highest and best sense of the term, of the foreign infiltration will 
become less and less probable. 

PUBLIC EVENING SCHOOLS. 

The other phase of this assimilation problem of the foreigner ap- 
pears in the public evening schools maintained by the city. Cali- 
fornia is the only State in the Union which specifically mentions 
evening schools in its constitution. 

The public-school system shall include day and evening elementary schools^ 
and such day and evening secondary schools, * * * as may be established 
by the legislature or by municipal or district authority. The entire revenue 
derived from the general State school tax shall be applied exclusively to the 
support of day and evening elementary schools; * * *. — State School Law 
of California, 1915, extracts from constitution, Art. IX, sec. 6. 

The State school law supplements this and guarantees a certain 
length of year wherever evening schools are established. Such 



548 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

duration is not expressed absolutely, but in terms of the day-school 
year of the community or district in question. 

Boards of school trustees and city boards of education must maintain all 
the schools established by them for an equal length of time during the year, 1 
and as far as possible with equal rights and privileges; * * * — Sec. 1619. 

Units of average daily attendance wherever used in this section shall be 
construed to be the quotient arising from dividing the total number of days 
of pupils' attendance in the regular full-time day, part-time day, and evening 
elementary schools of the district for the school year by the number of days 
school was actually taught in the regular elementary day schools of the dis- 
trict during the year. — Sec. 1S5S, par. 5. 

When evening schools are established and maintained in accord- 
ance with the above provisions and other details of the State law 
the community receives a grant from the State based upon average 
attendance. Five per cent of attendance is credited for each 12- 
minute period of attendance per pupil in a part-time day or evening 
school. This works out as 50 per cent for 2 hours. In other words, 
for purposes of State grant a 2-hour session in the evening is the 
equivalent of a half-clay session. Evening-school attendance is 
thus merged into the general total of attendance, and the State grant 
is allotted upon each unit of attendance. 

This system of computation makes it difficult for any community 
in California to state the exact amount of State aid received for even- 
ing-school work. Besides this average attendance grant, the sum of 
$550 is apportioned to each school district for every teacher allowed 
to it on the regular basis of 35 units of average daily attendance. 
Such grants are made by the county superintendent and are drawn 
from both State and county funds. San Francisco being a " city and 
county " this responsibility devolves upon the local superintendent of 
schools. 

TEACHING STAFF. 

While some of the teachers on the evening-school staff began their 
service years ago, before the present method of appointment was 
in operation, all the new appointees must conform to the same stand- 
ards that are required for day-school teachers. This guarantees a 
minimum teaching ability, but establishes no requirement for the 
possession of any of those special qualities which are essential in 
teachers of adult foreigners. 

Salaries are good, when compared with those paid in the country 
as a whole, for all regular teachers receive $55 per month ($G5 for 

1 There is no little opposition in the State to the strict enforcement of this require- 
ment on the ground that it penalizes counties which have a long day-school term. While 
there has been no decision rendered covering this point, it is believed that the State 
superintendent would rule that a pro rata allowance should be made for evening schools, 
provided they were in session for 120 nights, the minimum school year, to prevent a school 
" lapsing." 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 549 

high-school and commercial classes) for a 12-month year. Head 
teachers in the commercial and technical departments of the evening 
high school receive $80 and $105, respectively. Principals of 1-class 
schools likewise receive $55 per month, while principals of the larger 
schools receive from $80 to $125 per month. 

At one time the Board of Education refused to allow a teacher to 
teach in both day and evening schools, presumably in pursuance of 
the provision of the charter 1 which forbids a person holding two 
salaried offices under the city and county government. While the 
justification for this provision is thoroughly general, there is a 
peculiar reason operative in the case of teachers. It is impossible 
for the ordinary person to teach 5 or 6 hours per day and 2 hours in 
the evening, in addition to the necessary preparation for all these 
classes, and be fresh for work in both instances. One school service 
or the other is bound to suffer. It is quite immaterial whether the 
day teaching is done in public or private schools, in San Francisco 
or outside. According to members of the school board there is 
reason to believe that day-school teachers of the trans-Bay region 
are teaching in San Francisco evening schools. 

San Francisco has a unique opportunity to put its evening-school 
staff on a firm basis of professional competency. At the present 
time, the evening-school teachers are admittedly not equal to those in 
the day school on the average. This is quite to be expected in view 
of the higher salary schedule prevailing in the day schools. Most 
of those who are in teaching as a profession naturally obtain trans- 
fers to the day staff whenever possible. Inasmuch as the State law 
recognizes an evening session as the equivalent of half a day session 
for average attendance grants, the city is in position to carry this 
recognition a step further. 

Barring the case where technical subjects profit by the employ- 
ment of persons actively pursuing such technical work during the 
day, all teachers in evening schools should be professional teachers, 
present or past, preferably those in the city school system, but no- 
body should be allowed to teach all day and during the evening as 
well. There should be no differentiation of qualification between 
evening-school and day-school teachers, either in theory or in prac- 
tice. All should be on the regular staff and should teach morning 
and afternoon, morning and evening, or afternoon and evening, in 
any case receiving therefor a full day's salary. 

Not only would this put the evening-school force upon a more sub- 
stantial professional basis, but so long as the teachers were recruited 
from those working in elementary schools an actual economy would 
result. At present the evening-school teacher is paid $55 per month 

1 Art. XVI, sec. 4, edition 1915, p. 197-8. 



550 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



for half-time work. At the same time, the maximum salary in the 
elementary school, reached after seven years' teaching in the public 
schools of San Francisco, ranges from $97 to $102. In other words, 
the evening-school teacher for admittedly less effective work is paid 
on a basis of $110 per month, or from $S to $13 per month more than 
the maximum salary paid in clay schools. When one considers that 
not all the evening-school teachers would be upon this maximum 
basis, a real economy must obviously be possible. 

EVENING-SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 

Evening classes in San Francisco are now conducted in 16 different 
schools. Only 7 of the schools have classes distinctly for foreigners, 
although one other, the Bernal, reports a foreign group among its 
regular pupils. Below will be found a list of the evening schools 
reported, with indications of the character of the work offered in 
each, Table 185 : 

Table 1S5. — Types of icorJc in San Francisco evening schools. 





Classes. 


Schools. 


Elemen- 
tary. 


Secondary. 


Ensr!ish for 
foreigners. 


Technical. 




X 
X 
X 
X 






X l 






X 
X 
X 


X 2 














II umboldt 


X 




Irving M. Scott 






X l 










X i 


Lincoln 


X 
X 




X 
















X 3 




X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 








Portola . ." 




X" 










Sheridan 












X 
X 

















i Domestic science subjects. 
2 Commercial subjects. 



3 Navigation. 

4 Two evenings per week. 



COMMERCIAL EVENING SCHOOL. 



At the Commercial Evening School, Fell and Franklin Streets, 
there are two classes for foreigners learning English, an elementary 
and an advanced, with an official enrollment of 53 and 45, respectively, 
for the first month of the present school year, 191G-17. These classes 
are composed chiefly of Russian Jews of an unusually intelligent 
type, who made their way to this country across Siberia largely 
during the months of the present calendar year. Most of them are 
well-educated persons in their own languages, so that rapid progress 
in English has been comparatively easy. Much of this is due to a 



EDUCATION OP THE IMMIGKANT. 551 

wise selection of method — an adaptation of the well-known direct 
method of modern-language teaching. 

Special charts and other devices have been prepared by the teacher 
of the beginning classes ; a system of phonic cards is used, and con- 
siderable written work is required of the pupil. As a result of the 
foundation laid here, rapid progress is possible in the advanced 
class. Fortunately, none of the regular State texts was found, their 
places being supplied by such books as Buhlig, Business English; 
Plass, Civics for Americans in the Making, and the like. Some of 
the regular supplementary readers were used to good advantage. 

Roll call is a regular part of the work of the beginners' class. In 
this exercise each pupil rises and says : " My -name is * * *. 
I live at * * *. I have been in this country * * * months." 
These pupils showed remarkable command of English considering 
the very brief period they had been in America. In this school a 
systematic grading scheme is in operation. 

HAMILTON SCHOOL. 

The Hamilton School, Geary Street between Scott and Pierce 
Streets, has two regular classes for foreigners, and one other class 
which enrolls some foreign pupils. This last is a real ungraded 
class. Although theoretically the first two classes represent a begin- 
ners' and an advanced group, inquiry in the classrooms failed to 
show any strict differentiation along that line. Both classes had 
beginning pupils, and both had pupils who were in the same class 
last spring. The official enrollment for August, 191C, showed 62 and 
71 pupils, respectively, in the two classes, although the actual num- 
ber present on two evenings at the moment when these classes were 
visited showed 28 and 39 for one class, and 23 and 31 for the other 
class. 

As far as attendance is concerned these figures were fairly repre- 
sentative, for the official State average-attendance figures for the 
month were 16 an4 17.3, respectively. It should be noted that this 
State attendance in evening schools for purposes of record and grant 
is half the actual attendance, an evening session being reckoned as 
half a school day. Both these groups were decidedly international 
in character, with no particular national ity strikingly dominant. 

One of the classes of this school was strongly suggestive of the 
district school of the older type. A purely individual method of 
instruction was followed, each pupil being called up to the teacher's 
desk, seated on a stool, and told to read from the book he was using 
(in each case, so far as observed, the regular State reading books 
for the elementary grades of the day school). The teacher graded 
each recitation, at least when she did not forget to do so. In two 



552 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

instances, she evidently neglected to record any mark, for both these 
pupils were called up a second time. The teacher failed to notice 
the second appearance of the same pupils, although barely five min- 
utes had intervened. One man escaped by protesting that he had 
just read, while the other, a Korean, had to read his lesson all over 
again. He was marked this time. Three or four of the pupils 
(Orientals) were busy laboriously working out their tasks at their 
seats with the aid of dictionaries. These details are given in order 
to show the character of the work. According to the statement of 
the teacher herself, practically all of her instruction was of this indi- 
vidual nature. With 28 or 39 pupils (the number actually found in 
this class on two successive visits), the small measure of progress 
possible may be readily understood. 

In another class, this same individual method was much in evi- 
dence. Pupils were called upon to read one after the other from a 
text which was obviously too difficult for them. When each pupil 
finished, the teacher recorded a mark, but vouchsafed absolutely no 
comment or correction. It was impossible to follow the reading 
without a text before one, for the pupils did nothing but pronounce 
(or rather mispronounce) a succession of words. Such a matter as 
conveying an idea through reading seemed absolutely foreign to the 
mind of everybody concerned. 

An extreme example of evening school discipline appeared at the 
close of a session in one of the rooms of this building. The class was 
formed in line for dismissal just as though they were kindergarten 
children. Among the pupils was one man between 50 and GO years 
of age, and another who was apparently in the neighborhood of TO 
years, yet they were kept standing in line until all the girls on this 
floor had passed down stairs, and then at the stroke of the bell they, 
too, filed silently out. Such instances as this suggest a possible reason 
why adults drop out of evening schools, and indicate further that 
class control as well as methods and texts need to be adapted to the 
maturity of the pupils. 

HORACE MANN. 

At the Horace Mann Evening School, Valencia Street between 
Twenty-second and Twenty-third Streets, there are two classes of 
foreigners, one for beginners and one for advanced pupils, enrolling 
40 and 39, respectively, in the month of August, 1916. Greeks, 
Italians, and Norwegians were the dominating nationalities present 
in the former class, and Russians, French, and Italians in the latter 
class on the evening the school was visited. Grading at this school 
is somewhat uncertain. Formerly the teacher of the beginning class 
is said to have sent her pupils on to the advanced class, but such 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGKANT. 553 

does not seem to be the practice now. In this lower class there were 
three fairly distinct divisions, some of the pupils being fully as 
advanced as those found in the so-called advanced class. 

LINCOLN SCHOOL. 

The Lincoln Evening School, in the Hearst School Building, Her- 
mann and Fillmore Streets, has only one foreign class, with an 
official enrollment of C3 for the month of August, 191G, and an 
average attendance of 20 persons present, based upon the three 
evenings this class was visited. Last year there was a total enroll- 
ment of 200 or more, and two years ago there were four flourishing 
classes. The board of education consolidated some of these classes, 
and rather disastrous results followed. There is crying need for a 
special teacher for the citizenship class, but for some reason this 
teacher has not been forthcoming. It is impossible for one teacher 
to handle beginners and citizenship candidates in the two hours 
allotted to the session. The teacher distributes her time to the best 
of her ability, but slack periods are unavoidable, interest lags, and 
the classes can not be recruited to desirable numbers. 

Most creditable work is being done at this school. The principal 
and the teacher of the foreign class have sent out at their own 
expense personal invitations in response to the notices received from 
the Bureau of Naturalization at Washington in an effort to give 
applicants for citizenship some preparation for their examination. 
When her pupils come up for their naturalization examination, this 
teacher always arranges to be in court with them. 

Below will be found three notices sent out from the Lincoln School 
last spring which are self-explanatory. 



San Franctsco, Cat,., 

February 29, 1916. 
Dear Sir: The Lincoln Evening School, at the corner of Fillmore and Her- 
mann Streets, San Francisco, is starting a class especially for foreigners who 
desire to learn the principles of the United States Government in view of 
becoming citizens of the United States. 

School holds from Monday to Friday, from 7 p. m. to 9.15 p. m. 
There are no charges. You are cordially invited to join our class. 
Respectfully, yours, 

Frank Fenton, Principal. 

II. 

San Francisco, Cal., 

May 21, 1 910. 
Dear Str: The Lincoln Evening School, at the corner of Fillmore and Her- 
mann Streets, San Francisco, has a class especially for foreigners who desire to 
learn the principles of the United States Government in view of becoming 



554 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

CITIZENS of the United States. You are cordially invited to join the class. 
School holds from 7 until 9.15 each evening from Monday to Friday. 
There are no charges. 
Respectfully, yours, 

Feank Fenton, Principal. 

III. 

San Francisco, Cat.., 

June, 1016. 
Dear Sir: You are cordially invited to join a class in American Citizenship 
at the Lincoln Evening School, corner of Fillmore and Hermann Streets, San 
Francisco. School' every evening from Monday to Friday, from 7 p. m. to 
9.15 p. m. 

This class will teach you the principles of our Government and fit you to 
become an American citizen. 
There are no charyes. 
Respectfully, yours, 

Frank Fenton, Principal. 

A special text in civics 1 has been prepared by the teacher and 
printed at her expense for use in this citizenship class. Much more 
might be accomplished in citizenship instruction in this, school if a 
special teacher were available. 

Instruction in English is on a higher plane* still, for a series of 
lessons has been specially devised for use of the pupils in this school 
and in part printed. 2 This book is constructed along the line of the 
pupils' interest, and follows the direct method of instruction, besides 
containing full and specific directions for using the dramatic method. 

Homemade wall charts supplemented the text and stimulated the 
pupils' interest. Such charts are extremely valuable as teaching 
adj uncts. 

PORTOLA SCHOOL. 

At the Portola Evening School, Bacon and Berlin Streets, a class 
for foreigners is conducted on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, the 
other three evenings of the week being given over to an ungraded 
elementary school class (sixth to eighth grades). This foreign class 
had an official enrollment of 18 (about evenly divided between 
Russian Jews and Italians) for the month of August, 191G, with an 
average attendance of G. With minor modifications the regular day- 
school course of study is followed in this class, the first three State 
readers and the State text in history forming the basis of the reading 
material. The teacher asserted that there was no course of study for 
evening schools. 3 

1 Wheeler, Charlotte: A Few Lessons in Civil Government for Foreigners, 11)16. 

2 Wheeler, Charlotte: The ? Book. No. 1. Lincoln Evening School Method, 1016. 

8 Yet see Courses of Study for the Evening Elementary Schools, August, 1907, and 
Modifications in Course of Study for Elementary Evening Schools, August, 1911. 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 555 



SHEEMAN SCHOOL. 



At the Sherman Evening School, Union and Franklin Streets, 
there is one class for foreign pupils. This had an enrollment of 34 
pupils in August, 1910, with an average attendance of 11 pupils. 
On the evening the school was visited there Avere 15 present, all 
Italians. A substitute teacher was in charge of the class. His youth 
and lack of experience called for helpful supervision and wise coun- 
sel, which were not provided. The lesson of the evening, taken from 
the regular State scries first reader and entitled "The Hen and the 
Bag of Flour," was hardly suitable for grown men and women, what- 
ever their advancement in English. Such material is a reflection on 
their intelligence. 

WASHINGTON SCHOOL. 

At the Washington Evening School, Washington and Mason 
Streets, there were three classes for foreigners, with an official enroll- 
ment for the month of August, 1916, of 65, 55, and 52, respectively, 
and an actual attendance when the school was visited of 30, 38, and 
13. One class was largely Italians; one was very cosmopolitan in 
its make-up ; while the third had many Mexicans and South Ameri - 
cans, as well as two Greeks, one Chinese, and one Bulgarian. 

So far as could be learned, there is no systematic classification of 
pupils, yet here they are certainly in sufficient numbers to warrant 
careful organization on the basis of ability in English. Apparently 
r either principal nor teachers knew of any course of study for even- 
ing schools, although they were said to be following the "regular" 
course of study. Subsequently it appeared that this meant the day- 
school course. The following account of an interview with the prin- 
cipal will suggest something of the type of supervision which pre- 
vails in this school : 

Question: " Who makes the selections from the day-school course for use in 
the foreign classes?" Answer: "I do." 

Question: "Is this done in writing?" Ansioer: "No." 

Question: "How do the teachers know what to take?" Answer: "I tell 
them." 

Question: "Do you do this for every night?" Ansioer: "No; I map out the 
work in general"." 

Question: "How did Mr. X (an inexperienced teacher who was in service 
the second night) know what to select for this spelling lesson?" Ansioer: 
" Oh, he did it himself. He is trying to find out where they belong." 

This young man in question had the making of a good teacher, 
but he was woefully in need of careful and close supervision. 

Aside from the schools noted above, there are no classes for for- 
eigners in any of the public evening schools of San Francisco. A 
few scattered individuals may, however, be found in some of the 
other schools, e. g., one German and two other foreign-born whites 



556 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

at the Bernal School; one Mexican and one Italian at the Monroe 
School; one Chinese, one German, seven Italians, and one other 
foreigner at the North Beach School; one Italian, one Spaniard, one 
Mexican, and four French at the Koosevelt School; two Italians at 
the Sheridan School. All of these speak English more or less flu- 
ently, some of them being already citizens of the United States, but 
in no case, so far as could be learned, are they given any work 
specially adapted to increasing their knowledge of American life or 
to improving the quality of their citizenship. 

LEAVING SCHOOL PROBLEM. 

San Francisco, in common with most of the cities of the country, 
suffers from irregular attendance in evening-school classes. No 
definite figures are available on this point, but according to the most 
trustworthy information furnished by the superintendent's office 
the average attendance is " approximately 50 per cent." This may 
be accounted for in a single phrase: " Failure to give the pupils what 
they want." In the day school, regular attendance may be main- 
tained by the purely objective force of the compulsory-attendance 
law. In the evening school no such assistance is available. Attend- 
ance here is maintained entirely through the subjective force of the 
pupil's own feeling. If he gets what he wants, he will come. Other- 
wise he will stay away. 

Regular attendance at evening school demands a sympathetic 
teacher, a well-graded and steadily progressing course of study, 
good methods of instruction, a vocabulary which he can use, subject 
matter which is interesting to the adult mind, a class control and 
discipline which pay due regard to the fact that they impose upon 
grown men and women rather than upon children, a number of 
teachers sufficient to allow for considerable individual instruction, 
desks and seats suitable for atlult use, hours that dovetail with their 
hours of work, and schools within easy reaching distance of their 
homes. 

Some of these requirements are found in the classes for immigrants 
in the San Francisco evening schools. Many of them are not. The 
whole problem of school attendance resolves itself into this: "Make 
it worth while for the adult foreigner to come," and the classes can 
be filled and kept full. One has only to point to the clubs at the 
Monroe School or the evening classes in domestic subjects at the 
Bernal, Irving M. Scott, and Jean Parker Schools. In these latter 
schools, classes in cooking, sewing, and millinery are limited to 25 
pupils each, and in one class there were said to be 75 on the waiting 
list. Women feel that it is worth while for them to come, and 
they come. Seasonal variations due to late entry in the fall and 
early leaving in the spring manifestly can not be avoided, but much 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 557 

can be done to eliminate attendance irregularity of pupils actually 
enrolled. 

OUTSIDE ORGAXIZATIONS- 

Private organizations are actually coming in contact with more 
foreign pupils than are the public schools. In 1915-1G, for instance, 
the city superintendent's office reported approximately 700 pupils in 
English-for-foreigners classes. During the fiscal year ending May 
1, 1916, the Young Men's Christian Association enrolled 1,047 * pupils 
in English classes for foreigners. 

The following extract from the report of the immigration secre- 
tary will throw further light on the work of this organization : 

English Classes. 

1. Number of schools 16 

2. Number of classes 19 

3. Number enrolled 1, 047 

4. Total attendance 7, 187 

-5. Average weekly attendance 158 

6. Number of teachers (1G volunteer and 7 paid) . 23 

7. Subjects taught: Beginning and advanced English, using Robert's system 

" English for Coming Americans." 
■8. Nationalities represented: Austrian, Belgian, Chinese, Danish, English, Fili- 
pino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindu, Irish, Italian, 
Japanese, Mexican, Norwegian, Persian, Poles, Russian, Scotch, Spanish, 
Swedish, Swiss. 

In addition, the association conducts a class in citizenship which 
meets every Monday evening throughout the year. In 1915-16, 305 
pupils were enrolled. 

Not only does the Young Men's Christian Association teach more 
foreign pupils than the public evening schools, but it maintains more 
classes, operates more centers where such classes are held, employs 
more teachers, supervises its work more effectively, and spends more 
time and attention in preparing tlis teachers for their work. All this 
is possible through the fact that the association employs an immigra- 
tion secretary and at least one regular assistant who devote all their 
time to this work. The budget for the immigration department 
amounts to about $3,000 per year. 

In addition to the formal instruction in English and citizenship, 
the report of the immigration secretary for 1915-16 shows that 
other work of a more general educational and social nature was pro- 
moted. A citizenship reception was given July 4, 1915, for all who 
Tiad attended this school during the preceding year, and was pri- 
marily intended for those who had applied for their second papers 

1 It is interesting to note the definiteness of this information emanating from the 
report of ihe Young Men's Christian Association activities in comparison with "approxi- 
mately 700," as furnished by the public-school authorities. 



558 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

during the year. Thirty-two lectures were held, with an attendance 
of 4,893 persons. 

Churches, lodges, settlements, young people's societies, Young 'Wo- 
men's Christian Association cafeteria, Chinese Young Men's Christian 
Association, and the association building proper were utilized for this 
purpose. Socials were held in the Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and Rus- 
sian churches primarily for the benefit of the pupils enrolled in the 
English classes in these centers. The International Club holds remi- 
lar monthly meetings. The fourth annual Lincoln's Birthday Musi- 
cal and Folk Festival was held in February, 101G, at the Central 
Young Men's Christian Association building, with about 175 per- 
sons participating in the program, who represented 20 different 
nationalities. Ten shop meetings have been held — four at the Union 
Iron Works, three at the Otis Elevator Company Shops, and three at 
the Illinois Glass Works — with an attendance of over 2,000. 

Although the religious element was largely dominant in these shop 
meetings, they were nevertheless for the benefit of the foreign work- 
men. Although this Young Men's Christian Association work is 
conducted in as broad a spirit as possible, any sectarian organization 
labors under an unavoidable handicap. The very fact that Catho- 
lics (Roman and Greek), Orientals, and others of nonevangelical 
religious persuasions can be gathered in its classes and brought into 
its lecture halls is striking evidence of the need of the English in- 
struction that is offered. How much greater the chance of success 
if this same English and citizenship instruction could be offered 
under the nonsectarian auspices of the public schools ! 

Furthermore, class instruction in these Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation schools is frequently on a fee basis. Yet the foreigner is 
willing to pay for instruction here despite the fact that he might 
receive similar benefits in the public schools free of charge. 

If these varied lines of activity are possible in the case of a pri- 
vate organization for the benefit of necessarily a limited number of 
people (in 1915-16 about 1,300 persons were enrolled in these classes) t 
ought one to expect less of a great cosmopolitan city with all its non- 
English-speaking inhabitants as prospective pupils? 

SETTLEMENTS. 

There are two 1 regularly organized settlements in San Francisco, 
the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Association and the People's 
Place. 

J The Nurses' Settlement, Nineteenth and Iowa Streets, which was founded about IS 
years age is now closed. Although it has a well-const ructod and admirably located house, 
the business of the organization has been terminated, and the property is about lo be 
sold. From August, 11)12, until January, 1914, a very successful school was conducted 
here which was patronized largely by Russians who live in the neighborhood and are 
employed in the Union Iron Works. 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 559 

TELEGRAPH HILL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION. 

None of the regular work of the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood 
Association, 173G Stockton Street, can properly be classed as educa- 
tional, save in the larger sense of the word. This is primarily a 
social settlement, with highly important dispensary and clinical ad- 
juncts. It is located in the very heart of the Italian quarter, and 
practically all the people it serves either socially or medically are 
Italians. Classes in sewing, dressmaking, and infant feeding, as 
well as a mothers' club, have been enthusiastically attended, It has 
opened its building to the Young Men's Christian Association for 
its English class for foreigners. The following quotation. from the 
latest published report, January, 1916, is self-explanatory: 

Much to our regret, the class for immigrants conducted here last year by 
the Y. M. C. A. has been discontinued. There is great need for workers in this 
field. The majority of adults with whom we deal are unable to either read or 
write their own language. During the past year we have come in contact with 
fifteen nationalities. This illiteracy is a very serious handicap to them, as it 
not only prevents their getting employment, but does much to weaken their 
influence over their children, who feel and show a certain contempt for their 
ignorance. Great success is being met with in the South, where negroes of 
advanced age are being taught to read in what is known as " moonlight 
schools." How much less difficult it would be to teach these young mothers 
and fathers, who average a much higher grade of intelligence. 

people's place. 

The People's Place, an incorporated social center, 555 Chestnut 
Street, in the North Beach section, states its chief work to be that 
" of an ordinary friendly neighborhood association in a spirit of 
helpfulness in the ordinary affairs of life." It conducted an adult 
class in English for foreigners for 11 months last year (now meeting 
two evenings per week). Eighteen pupils were enrolled (approxi- 
mately three-fourths men and one-fourth women in attendance), and 
instruction was given in reading, writing, arithmetic, and citizen- 
ship. Its Montessori class for foreign children is also worthy of 
note. Both the adult and the Montessori class were started because 
the need seemed crying, and the city was doing nothing along those 
lines for the people of this neighborhood. Other activities of the 
People's Place include those of the ordinary social settlement, but 
these fall outside the scope of this present inquirjr. Italians in gen- 
eral, and South Italians in particular, constitute practically all its 
clientele. 

OTHER AGENCIES. 

According to the statement of Archbishop Hanna, the Catholic 
Church is conducting no work primarily for teaching English to 
foreigners. All religious organizations in the city were badly 



560 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

crippled by the great fire, and the regular demands upon the church 
finances are such as to preclude the possibility of such work in the 
immediate future. Parochial schools enroll a considerable number 
of children from foreign families, but so far as could be learned no 
special attempt is made to meet the peculiar needs of the foreigner. 

The Catholic Church is, however, conducting nurseries for chil- 
dren of working mothers, and is teaching children sewing outside 
school hours. It also supports a kind of visiting teacher who goes 
about through the homes of the children of the parochial schools. 
Necessarily this affects the immigrant population in part, but this 
work is not undertaken primarily from the foreign point of view. 
The Portuguese population of the diocese is largely found out on 
the land, while the Italians are chiefly congregated in the cities. No 
effort was made to visit the parochial schools of San Francisco, in 
view of the statement of the Archbishop noted above that the Church 
was making no organized, systematic attempt to reach the adult 
foreigner. 

Contact was made with various other agencies such as the labor 
organizations, the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the Hebrew 
Immigrant Aid Society, the B'nai B'rith, the Japanese Society of 
America, the Italian Chamber of Commerce, and the like, but none 
of these organizations is attempting any work of Americanization. 
About a year ago an effort was made to interest the Hebrew Immi- 
grant Aid Society in the problem of English teaching, but some of 
the more influential members of the organization thought that this 
was a matter for the public schools to handle, and nothing was done. 
The Young Men's Hebrew Association has recently appointed a new 
superintendent from the East who is now (September, 1916) survey- 
ing the field preparatory to expanding the usefulness of the organi- 
zation, but there seems no immediate prospect of this association 
undertaking English instruction. 

(Some of the foreign societies, notably the Lafayette Club 
(French), have interested themselves in preparing men for their 
citizenship examination, but this work is largely due to the interest 
and devotion of individual members rather than to any general, con- 
certed action on the part of the organizations themselves. 

OTHER CLASSES AND SCHOOLS. 

Desire to preserve the home language is a dominant characteristic 
among some of the foreign groups of San Francisco. Italian classes 
are conducted as a part of the regular work in the Hancock, Horace 
Mann, Monroe, Sherman, and Washington public elementary schools, 
where there are a large number of Italian children. In the last 
named, Italian children constitute about 75 per cent of the pupils. 






EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGKANT. 561 

with the remainder almost exclusively French, Mexican, and Span- 
ish. A special teacher is employed for this work. At the Washing- 
ton School, one of the schools where this foreign language work was 
observed, instruction is given in 2J-hour lessons per week. The 
teacher arranges his own course with no supervision from the super- 
intendent's office. 

Although popular demand is appeased by the presence of this in- 
struction, it is doubtful if the progress registered is very material, 
especially when one considers the extremely formal character of the 
work and the brief time allotted to it. Italian has no place on the 
regular report card of the school, the records being given to the 
pupils by the teacher twice a year, at the end of each school term. 
The mixture of races and the fact that seven of the 45 boys in one 
of the grades also attend the Italian School * are perhaps a sufficient 
commentary on the closeness of grading. 

French is taught in four elementary schools, to wit: Adams, Bry- 
ant, Columbia, and Roosevelt; German in eight schools: Adams, 
Bryant, Columbia, Crocker, Hamilton, Horace Mann, Pacific 
Heights, and Roosevelt; and Spanish in two schools: Adams and 
Columbia. • 

' Afternoon French classes are conducted in 13 schools 2 and German 
classes in 13 schools 3 in various sections of the city. These are main- 
tained outside school hours under the auspices of the Alliance 
Franchise or the Deutsche Schulbund, the use of the public-school 
buildings being granted by the board of education to these private 
organizations. Small fees are charged for the instruction given 
therein. So far as could be learned neither of these organizations is 
interested in citizenship instruction, nor do they put forth any other 
efforts to make the people of their own colonies more fitted to become 
useful citizens of the land of their residence. Use of public-school 
buildings for purposes of this nature is therefore a question which 
should merit careful consideration. 

FOREIGN LANGUAGE SCHOOLS. 

Other schools of a private venture or institutional type also min- 
ister to the wants of numbers of immigrant families. They are 
staffed exclusively with foreign teachers and are designed to preserve 
a knowledge of the foreign tongues among children of the second 
generation. Among the more important of these are the Chinese 

1 See p. 502. 

2 Bay View, Denman, Dudley Stone, Emerson, Grant, Grattan, Hamilton Evening (5.30 
to 7 o'clock*, Jean Parker, Madison, Pacific Heights, Redding, Spring Valley, Washington. 

8 Bernal, Denman, Frank MeCoppin, George Peabody, Grattan, James Lick, Laguna 
Honda, McKinley, Madison, Mission Grammar, Rochambeau, Spring Valley, Sutro. 

93S15— 17 36 



562 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 

School, conducted by the Six Companies in their building on Stock- 
ton Street; the Japanese School, 3 Pagoda Place; and the Italian 
School (Scuola Italiana), 678 Green Street. All these are con- 
ducted outside the hours of the public clay schools, so that pupils 
in attendance thereat spend an inordinately long time in school per 
day. 

CHINESE SCHOOL. 

The Chinese School has 4 teachers and about 120 pupils. Sessions 
are held from Monday to Friday, inclusive, from 5 to 9 p. m., 
and on Saturday from 10 to 2 o'clock. They have a 10-months' 
school year, with vacation throughout the month of August, and 
the equivalent of another month scattered throughout the year. 
Pupils pay fees of $1 per month. Although this school is said for- 
merly to have possessed the peculiar characteristics of the schools 
of China under the old regime, to-day, it has taken on a decidedly 
modern aspect. 

JAPANESE SCHOOL. 

The Japanese School enrolls about 40 children and charges fees 
of $1.50 per family per month. 

ITALIAN SCHOOL. 

The Italian School, the most important of these three, holds its 
sessions in the building known as Fugazi Hall, GT8 Green Street. 
One might almost think that one had dropped down in a school in 
the old country, for little but Italian is heard in its classrooms. In 
fact, the principal of the school does not speak a word of English, 
and one of the other teachers knows very little of our language. 
There are three teachers and about 300 pupils. School is held in two 
sessions daily — one from 3.15 to 4.15, and the other from 4.30 
to 5.30. 

Each class thus consists of about 50 pupils. In August, 191G, the 
attendance ran about 46 or 48 per class, although later in the year 
this will drop down by one-third. No tuition is charged, but each 
pupil who can a fiord it is supposed to pay $5 per year. Expenses 
are met in part by these fees, in part by contributions from business 
houses and interested individuals, and in part by a subsidy from 
the Italian Government. The last item amounts to 1,000 lire ($214) 
out of a total annual budget of slightly more than $1,S00. Children 
under 10 years of age are not admitted, and the beginning of con- 
firmation instruction in the church practically marks the close of 
school life for the individual child. 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 563 

While all the above-mentioned instruction in other than the Eng- 
lish language is strictly outside the scope of the present inquiry, 
these schools seemed to have a sufficiently direct bearing upon the 
general problem of immigrant education in the city of San Fran- 
cisco to warrant at least passing mention. 

FOREIGN SOCIETIES. 

Foreign societies are the outgrowth of the same spirit that 
prompts the establishment of French, German, and Spanish classes, 
and the various schools for teaching foreign languages noted above. 
They play an important role in the social life of peoples of foreign 
race living in San Francisco, although so far as could be learned 
they are doing nothing to promote a better Americanism. Whether 
or not their influence is exerted in the opposite direction is difficult 
to say. Their members would deny this implication, and the denial 
would undoubtedly hold true in the great majority of instances. 
These societies, however, possess much latent power for good in the 
making of better citizens if they could only be stirred to action. One 
of the problems before San Francisco in particular and the nation 
in general is to secure the cooperation of these foreign societies in 
stimulating those of their members who propose to settle in this 
country permanently to range themselves definitely among the citi- 
zenry of the land. Various types of interest are represented : Benefit, 
benevolent, educational, fraternal, patriotic, religious, and social. 

The Germans probably have more such societies than all the rest 
of the foreign peoples combined, partly because the spirit of fellow- 
ship is highly developed among Teutonic peoples, and partly because 
the Germans are the most numerous foreign element in the popula- 
tion. Over 180 German societies may be found listed in the columns 
of the Demokrat, a German daily newspaper. Many of these 
German societies hold their gatherings in the rooms of the German 
House, a fine, well-appointed building erected only a few years ago 
in order to provide a rallying center for the German organizations 
of the city. Eecent estimates indicate a probable membership of 
upward of 15,000 in these societies. 

The Croatian Unity of the Pacific, a benefit organization with some 
2,000 members, by no means all of whom live in San Francisco, in- 
cludes Croatian, Dalmatian, and Slavonic societies in its membership. 
According to information gained from the secretary of the organiza- 
tion there are probably 4,000 to 5,000 people representing these three 
races in San Francisco, with little change in their numbers since 
1910. Most of them speak English and readily become assimilated. 
This statement is substantiated in part by the fact that these people 
do not congregate by themselves, but merge their identity in the 
mass of the population. 



564 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

There are many other flourishing societies, especially among the 
Italians and the French, but those cited may perhaps serve as types 
of them all. 

PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

A force possessing many latent possibilities as a factor in Ameri- 
canization is the public library. San Francisco libraries have not yet 
recovered from the effects of the fire, but a magnificent new building 
in the civic center is already well on its way toward completion, so 
that the central section of the city should be well served, at least as 
far as the building is concerned. Definite plans for cooperation 
between the library and the school are already in operation. For 
example, each of the seven branch librarians must visit all schools 
in her library district. Two story-telling hours per week are con- 
ducted in each branch, one for older and one for younger children, 
the attendance in some cases running as high as 200 children. Branch 
librarians are in charge of this story-telling. 

The North Beach branch, in the heart of the Italian quarter, is 
the smallest in the city, yet during the year July, 1915, to June, 1916, 
it had a book circulation of 64,000, or just a little short of 20 per card 
holder per year. This particular branch has 7,216 volumes on its 
shelves (6,300 English and 900 Italian), so that each book circulated 
roughly nine times during the year, a most creditable showing. As 
a rule these Italian parents are anxious for their children to read 
English books rather than Italian, but the circulation of the foreign 
books unquestionably reaches families where English is not the 
current speech. With proper coordination of effort this branch 
library might be a most valuable medium for reaching the Italian 
people who are ignorant of English and for attracting them into the 



evening schools. 



LABOR UNIONS. 



Although labor unions in various parts of the country have in- 
terested themselves directly in the Americanization movement, little 
has been done on this score by the San Francisco unions. Accord- 
ing to the statement of one of their more prominent members, much 
of their efforts have been devoted to a struggle for existence, and 
they have neither time nor energy for Americanization work. Early 
in its career the Marine Firemen's Union took in citizens or non- 
citizens indifferently, but for the past 20 years the constitution has 
required all applicants to be citizens or to have declared their 
intention to become citizens, and in any case they must be able to 
read and write English. This organization is thus ranged on the 
right side, so far as its own members are concerned, but it is making 
no effort to Americanize any outside of its membership. 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 565 

The Alaska Fishermen's Union does not discriminate against 
noncitizens in its membership. For a period of two years, 1904-1906, 
the union refused to enroll members who had not at least declared 
their intention to become citizens. This simply resulted in every 
foreigner who wanted to join taking out his first papers, without 
any intention of really qualifying as a citizen. After two years' trial 
the union modified its regulation by formal vote, so that now can- 
didates for admission " must be American citizens or be eligible 
for such citizenship." They have no negro or oriental members at 
the present time. As an organization this union is doing no direct 
work in teaching English to its members or in encouraging them 
to take out citizenship papers. The sympathetic attitude of the 
secretary, however, would seem to promise much if organized efforts 
were only put forth to secure the cooperation of this body. 

Labor unions possess important but undeveloped sources of in- 
fluence as affecting the process of Americanization. Especially is 
this true in San Francisco, for at the present moment the labor 
forces have 12 of the 18 members of the board of supervisors of the 
city. Any concerted municipal action, therefore, whether exerted 
with or without the direction of the board of education, must first 
pass the scrutiny of the labor party. Unionism is vitally concerned 
in Americanization of the foreigner, for inability to speak English is 
found almost exclusively among the working classes where unscrupu- 
lous agitators are prone to capitalize the language disability of their 
fellow countrymen. 

conclusions. 

San Francisco is to be commended for having the longest evening- 
school term in the country, 192 days in 1914-15. It is to be hoped 
that no State legislation looking to the shortening of the legal year 
for evening schools will operate to cut down the present number of 
evenings in San Francisco. 

San Francisco is likewise to be commended for the salary scale in 
force in evening schools, higher than in any other school system in 
the country. It should be able to command the services of the very 
best teachers for its schools. 

By reason of the conditions just referred to, in conjunction with 
the State law under which an evening-school session is reckoned as 
a half day for grant purposes, San Francisco has an unusual oppor- 
tunity to place her evening schools on an exact parity with her day 
schools in fact as well as in theory. Some readjustment of teaching 
assignments would be necessary, but no additional expense would be 
entailed. 



566 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

In view of the conditions brought to light by this study of the 
foreign population of San Francisco, and the unsatisfactory state of 
public facilities for the Americanization of the foreign born, the 
following recommendations are offered: 

1. A director of evening schools should be appointed, who should 
also be a deputy superintendent of schools. Evening schools should 
receive his major attention, although it would be entirely feasible in 
a city the size of San Francisco to add to the duties of this officer 
such extra school responsibilities as might be involved in the organi- 
zation and administration of social centers, extension work, and other 
kindred activities. It does not seem advisable to add playground 
direction as well, for that more properly relates itself to the work of 
the physical director, and direction of evening schools demands a 
more highly specialized pedagogical standard than commonly suffices 
for playground work, important though the latter is in its way. 
Neither is it advisable to assign one of the present staff of deputies 
exclusively to evening-school direction, thereby relieving him of 
some of his present duties in the day schools (although from the 
evening-school point of view such arrangement would be far pref- 
erable to the existing plan where the various schools are parceled out 
among the deputies), for in the day schools this would merely impose 
additional duties upon a staff already much overburdened. 

This director of evening schools would thus have adequate time 
for supervision in the classes instead of allowing the schools to drift 
along with the conventional two inspections per year. The present 
staff is probably doing as well as could be expected under the exist- 
ing sj'Stem, but it is manifestly unfair to expect the deputy superin- 
tendents to spend all day in regular routine work and then expect 
them to supervise schools in the evening. 1 

Mere casual inspection will not suffice. There is need of system- 
atic supervision, which should be more closely followed than for the 
day schools, especially in view of the unusual problems which even- 
ing schools present. Many of the weaknesses of the entire evening- 
school sj^stem would probably have been avoided had there been a 
director of evening schools. 

2. A new course of study should be drawn up, which should pay 
proper heed to racial differences, individual needs, and educational 
principles. Not only is the present course antiquated and ill-suited 

1 Evening-school assignments for the fall term, 101G, are as follows : Deputy Superin- 
tendent Ileaton, Hamilton, 1 ; Deputy Superintendent De Bell, Horace Mann, Sherman, 2 ; 
Deputy Superintendent Cloud, Commercial, Jean Parker, Lincoln, 3 ; Deputy Superin- 
tendent Magner (Miss), Humboldt, North Beach, Washington Irving, 3; Deputy Superin- 
tendent Howard, Bernal, Irving M. Scott, Monroe, Navigation, Portola, Roosevelt, Sheri- 
dan, 7. 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 567 

to adult conditions, but some of the teachers do not know of its 
existence. 

3. Textbooks should be selected which take due cognizance of the 
fact that the foreign pupils in the evening schools are practically 
all adults. It is preposterous to use for such pupils State texts de- 
signed for children in the lower grades of the day schools. How- 
ever ignorant of English these foreigners may be, they are adults 
intellectually and have the interests of the adult mind. Some of 
these foreigners have been students in secondary schools, academies, 
and even universities in their native lands. 

4. Free textbooks should be furnished. 1 Public interest is as 
much involved here as in the case of the day schools. The argu- 
ments are as valid in one case as in the other. 

5. An adequate system of grading foreign pupils should be intro- 
duced. In schools with but a single class this can only be done by 
having two or more divisions in this class. In most of the schools 
with two or three classes no such grading was in evidence, nor did 
investigation disclose any serious attempt to divide pupils on the 
basis of advancement in English. Criteria of grading necessarily 
vary according to the number of pupils concerned. Obviously, 
ability to speak English gives the first test of grading, with three 
divisions where possible: (1) Beginners, (2) intermediate, and (3) 
advanced. Degree of literacy offers the second test, and may well be 
used in conjunction with the first. For example, in a school of 
three (or even two) classes graded in accordance with the first test, 
each class should be divided into two divisions on the basis of literacy 
in the native language of the pupils. Under the present conditions 
in San Francisco this gives as narrow a scheme of grading as is 
feasible. With more pupils and larger classes other standards might 
be applied, such as segregation of nationalities or distribution along 
the line of allied racial groups, sex, age, mentality, and the like. 

6. Classes in citizenship, by way of preparation for the naturaliza- 
tion examination, should be organized under public -school auspices. 
Only one such class is now in effective operation (with one class in 
another school attempting to do some work of this kind), and that 
is seriously handicapped by the fact that the teacher is compelled to 
divide her time between the citizenship class and another group of 
badly graded foreign pupils. All efforts of teacher or principal 
to secure from the board of education a teacher for this citizenship 
class have been in vain. The board seems to refuse this teacher on 
the ground that the size of the class does not warrant a special 
teacher, and yet the class can not grow because the teacher is abso- 

1 Textbooks are presumably furnished free now, but only so long as the regular State 
texts are used, which are adapted to the needs of children in the day schools. 



568 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

lutely unable to keep the citizenship candidates occupied and handle 
her ether pupils at the same time. At one time this school had 
four foreign classes, but as the teachers dropped out the numbers 
fell off. It is fair to infer that the falling off in attendance was an 
effect rather than a cause. A private organization like the Young 
Men's Christian Association, even with its fees, seems to have no 
difficulty in keeping its citizenship class reasonably full. 

7. An adequate system of record cards should be devised and kept 
up to date covering pupils in day and evening schools which should 
show, in addition to the information usually found thereon: (a) Na- 
tivity of pupil; (b) nativity of parents; (c) name of employer, if 
any; (d) place of employment, if any; (e) knowledge of English on 
entering schcol; (/) degree of literacy. The regular card issued by 
the department is woefully defective in all these respects, although 
in some instances record books which are the personal property of 
the teachers supply some of these facts. Much of the information 
relating to foreign children, as well as foreign adults, can be fur- 
nished by the superintendent's office only through special inquiries 
in the classrooms, instead of through mere tabulation of records 
already on file in the offices of the various school principals. 

8. Special certificates should be required for teaching evening 
classes for foreigners. If such a requirement is not feasible under 
existing State law steps should be taken to assure that such teachers 
of foreigners have particular fitness for the work. Teaching English 
to adults is as much a specialty as kindergartening. Experience and 
skill in handling first-grade children, or even high-school classes, by 
no means guarantees success with foreign adults. Certain criteria 
for the selection of teachers of foreigners might well be suggested 
in substantially the order of their importance: 

(a) Proved ability to teach foreigners who are beyond the com- 
pulsory school-attendance age. 

(b) Experience in teaching such foreigners. 

(c) Special training for teaching such foreigners. 

(d) General teaching ability. 

(e) Knowledge and appreciation of the foreigner, his conditions, 
and his national and racial ideals. 

(/) Sex, i. e., male teachers should be normally assigned to teach 
men, and female teachers to teach women. 

(g) Ability to speak the language of the pupil. 

9. Training classes for the preparation of teachers of adults should 
be established and conducted by the director of evening schools until 
adequate provision for the preparation of such teachers can be made 
in one or more of the existing State normal schools. 

10. Systematic efforts should be made by the school authorities to 
gather the non-English-speaking population into school. With few 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 569 

exceptions schools have done nothing more than take care of those 
pupils who have come to their doors, and these few exceptions rep- 
resent effort on the part of individuals rather than any concerted 
action prompted by the central authorities. A director of evening 
schools could furnish the necessary organizing ability and give the 
movement the impulse needed. Cooperation of employers, and civic, 
social, labor, industrial, and religious organizations, as well as in- 
terested individuals must be enlisted, for such a movement is too big 
to be carried through successfully by any single force in the com- 
munity. Last, but not least, is the power of the press, both native 
and foreign. No efforts at increasing evening-school attendance can 
be fully successful without this newspaper support. 

11. Some provision should be made for work with foreign women. 
In a suffrage State like California, Americanization of women is as 
essential as that of men. By the same court fiat which makes the 
husband, who has conformed to the requirements of the naturalization 
law, a citizen the wife is likewise admitted to active citizenship. She 
may nevertheless be utterly ignorant of English or the fundamental 
principles of our American life. Such a state of affairs should not 
be tolerated. Work for women means afternoon classes. The director 
of evening schools should arrange for these. 

12. The salary schedule for the entire school system should be 
revised to provide for the employment of teachers, principals, and 
directors under the following plans of service: (1) Morning and 
afternoon, (2) morning and evening, (3) afternoon and evening. 

13^ As a matter of principle, it is believed that all education of 
the foreigner should be in the hands of the public educational 
authorities, and that private organizations, such as the Young 
Men's Christian Association and the like, should not feel called upon 
to assume this public responsibility. Where such public duty has 
for any reason been neglected, or where adequate opportunity has 
not been provided in the public education system, such private 
authorities of whatever type are to be commended for stepping into 
the breach. In face of the situation now existing in San Francisco, 
a working basis of cooperation should be established between the 
schools on the one hand and the private organizations on the other, 
in order that duplication of effort may be avoided and the education 
of the foreigner in English and the principles of American demo- 
cratic life should not be allowed to suffer. 

14. The board of education should take the necessary action to 
put these recommendations into effect and provide the funds for the 
execution of the same. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

EDUCATIONAL AND ECONOMIC VALUE OF SCHOOL- 
DIRECTED GARDENING. 



The object of this study is to collect and interpret facts and 
figures in regard to the educational and economic value of school- 
directed gardening in the city of San Francisco. Any such study 
must take into consideration the work already accomplished, the 
amount of land available for expansion, the number of children of 
garden age, the present occupations of the children, the educational 
value of gardening, the training of the teachers for the work, and 
the economic value of gardening to the home. 

The city of San Francisco is the marketing, shipping, and manu- 
facturing center of the agricultural products of the whole northern 
half of the State. Because of its rail and water transportation, it 
forms the center through which the products of the land must find an 
outlet. The prosperity of the city is dependent in a large measure 
on the success of the agriculture of the surrounding country. The 
products of the fertile Sacramento, San Joaquin, Mapa, Sonoma, 
and Santa Clara Valleys are shipped to all parts of the world from 
San Francisco. The large fruit and vegetable canneries and the 
commission and warehouses are dependent on the welfare of the 
rural sections. As the city grows, so must the country grow, and 
healthy growth can be assisted through teaching city and country 
youths of to-day to be the productive farmers and gardeners of to- 
morrow. 

By the 1910 census it is shown that about 60 per cent of the land 
area in the country near San Francisco is in farms. The average 
value of this improved land is about $75 per acre. Less than 5 
per cent of the land area is irrigated and 13 J per cent of the farms 
are provided with irrigating facilities. In the 16 counties nearest 
to San Francisco $6,471,780 worth of vegetables were produced in 
1909. 

The west coast, with its alternate wet and dry seasons and need 
for conserving water and for irrigation, presents an entirely differ- 
ent problem in crop production from the eastern part of the United 
States. Gardeners with experience under similar conditions can be 
570 



SCnOOL-DIEECTED GARDENING. 571 

imported only from the Old World countries having Mediterranean 
climates. In the immediate vicinity of San Francisco, the garden- 
ing industry has been very largely taken over by Italians and 
orientals. The State of California should begin the systematic 
training of her own people for this work, and the city should do her 
share by training her young people in agriculture in order that they 
may follow the subject vocationally or at least may have the knowl- 
edge necessary to grow their own food. 

From a geographical standpoint San Francisco presents many 
features which make it a difficult city for which to work out a 
garden plan. The consolidated city and county, occupying 46 J 
square miles, is situated on a peninsula surrounded by water on 
three sides — the Pacific Ocean on the west, San Francisco Bay on 
the east and north, and the Golden Gate on the north. Cut off as it 
is, its population will become very dense. Building lots now vacant 
will be filled and the tendency will be for the population to be di- 
vided into classes; the poor who through necessity must live near 
their work, an$ the wealthy who can afford to live in restricted 
subdivisions such as are now being opened beyond Twin Peaks 
Tunnel. By this it is not meant that San Francisco will be com- 
pletely devoid of middle class population, especially to the west and 
south, but, of necessity, because the city stands first in the United 
States in the value of land and improvements per capita and because 
of its restricted area for expansion, a large part of those who wish 
to establish homes in more open areas will be added to the 50,000 
commuters who already live across the bay. This whole east-bay 
section will virtually become a suburb of the greater city. 

The land area of the city itself is broken by ridges and pyramid- 
shaped hills which have interefered with the uniformity of lot plans 
and often reduced the home and apartment house grounds to mere 
building plats. In the hillier sections outcropping ledges prevent 
the use of some of the land, and in the sections near the water the 
soil is made up largely of pure sand. 

PRESENT STATUS OF GARDENING. 

Although one of the deputy superintendents of schools of San 
Francisco has been working many years for the introduction of 
gardening as one of the regular activities of the schools, school and 
home gardening has not been given recognition in the school system. 

"Without recognition and financial aid, it has been impossible to 
organize anything like a complete city system. In schools where 
teachers have become interested in the subject, school gardens are 
being conducted, but no lasting results can be attained so long as it 
is left to the voluntary activities of teachers. Several schools that 



572 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKAETCISCO. 

started gardening have given it up because the teachers felt that 
their efforts were not appreciated. 

One teacher has well stated what must be the history of gardening 
or any other school subject when recognition and financial assistance 
are withheld: 

We had a school garden last year with some supervision of home gardens. 
This year we have none. The children of my room report that they have some 
14 gardens hut my experience has taught me that gardens without supervision 
are practically nothing. I visited only one garden last year that amounted to 
anything.' 

In making the survey of the possibilities for gardening, all sections 
of the city were visited to study soil and living conditions. Time 
did not permit an interview with all the school principals but many 
were seen, and a special effort was made to see the teachers interested 
in gardening. Practically all the school gardens were visited, and,, 
in the main, all were alike. Small spaces on the school grounds or 
vacant lots had been secured and divided into individual plats for 
each child or for each class. In a few cases the garden work was 
done during school hours, under the direction of the room teacher,, 
and in other schools all gardening was done after school hours and 
directed by volunteer teachers. Most of the gardens show lack of 
care but the efforts of a few teachers should be commended. At a 
small number of schools emphasis has been placed on home garden- 
ing, but again no systematic plan was worked out; the voluntary 
visits of the teachers were irregular and the work collapsed during 
vacation. 

The superintendent of schools is much interested in the promotion 
of gardening in the city and has recommended on several occasions 
that a garden department be established in the schools. In his report 
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, he makes the following 
statements and recommendations : 

The superintendent's office has been working for several years to awaken an 
interest in the subject of home and school gardens. These efforts have been 
hindered by a plentiful lack of money. At first the subject was new to the 
teachers and principals and our efforts were met either with aversion or oppo- 
sition, but little by little interest has been awakened in the subject of garden- 
ing and its educational value fully appreciated by our teaching force. In the 
-beginning but one or two schools wanted a garden. Now almost every school 
would welcome a school garden. In answer to an inquiry sent out this year 
the schools requested the establishment of school gardens and stated in strong, 
forceful language the educational value to the children. 

In cities where the school garden is well established the children are found 
working after school hours, nursing the growth of the flowers, fruits, and 
vegetables. This city has about 60 acres of unoccupied school lands. Much 
of this idle ground is near enough to schoolhouses to be used as gardens, and 
is at present bringing no income, either financially or educationally. I want 
to see these lots put into school gardens, not only for the city beautiful, but 
that they may be of aid to the children in the directions of manual training, 



SCHOOL-DIEECTED GARDENING. 573 

physical exercise, and education. I propose to continue my appeal for the 
development and extension of this type of school activity. 

I would recommend that a supervisor of gardening be appointed to assist and 
encourage the department in developing and directing this work. 

We have a large amount of vacant school ground which may be utilized for 
gardens, and many of our present buildings have large grounds, a portiou of 
which the principals petition to have made into gardens. 

Through the efforts of the superintendent and a deputy superin- 
tendent, much interest in gardening has been aroused among the 
teachers. The chairman of the school garden committee, an enthusi- 
astic garden teacher, makes the following report : 

Last spring the city beautiful convention was reorganized. The details of 
the reorganization do not belong here. Suffice it to say that the reorganization 
was in the interest of efficiency. This time they included school gardens in 
the convention, and the writer was made chairman of the committee. This 
committee consists of 20 principals and teachers in the department and one 
settlement worker, Mrs. Artieda, of People's Place. We are all working, ac- 
cording to our several abilities, to have established in San Francisco a well- 
organized system of school gardens. In the meantime, we are making full use 
of the inadequate equipment that we can command. This is a brief survey of 
the work already accomplished. 

Every school that has taken up this work at all has emphasized the home 
gardens. There are gardens organized at school in order that home gardens 
may be enlarged and increased. I look forward to a time when this home- 
garden work will be a regular part of the curriculum, the work done under 
direction, inspected at regular intervals, and school credit allowed for it. 

We must give the childen of the cities an opportunity to acquire an education 
that will fit them for the development of California's greatest industries — 
agriculture and horticulture. We must endeavor to stem the mad rush from 
the farm to city life and, through education, turn the people of our already 
overcrowded cities back to the more peaceful, contented, prosperous, and 
healthful life of the scientific cultivator of the soil. 

When parents and children have learned to love these flowers, they will soon 
find other means of beautifying their homes. Within a few years each school- 
house should have a school garden, large if possible, small if need be, but a 
school garden of some kind. A garden 25 feet square may serve as a demon- 
stration where children are taught lessons in gardening to be applied at their 
homes. 

An interesting garden-club project was carried on under the direc- 
tion of the chairman of the school-garden committee, an account of 
the purpose, terms, and results of which follow : 

DEY-FAKMING CLUBS. 

Purpose. — To raise potatoes on vacant lots in San Francisco by dry-farming 
methods and to plant around the margin of the lot drought resistant flowers,, 
such as marigolds, nasturtiums, hollyhocks, poppies, petunias, or sweet peas. 
This will help to improve the appearance of our city and at the same time' 
give the gardener a crop that pays him for his work. A business man of San 
Francisco has pledged the necessary funds to establish the work. 

Terms.- — The materials for the fence, the seed potatoes, and the tools will be 
furnished. The lots will be plowed. The street cleaning department will 



574 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 

furnish street sweepings for fertilizer. The pupil must put up the fence or 
get some one to do it. A set of tools consists of a pick, a spading fork, a 
hoe, and rake. Six gardeners will have one set of tools. That gives the set 
of tools to each gardener for one day in the week. A dry farmer may, if he- 
prefers, furnish his own equipment complete. If he wishes to enter the potato 
contest he must plant the same kind of potatoes. 

Good strong tools will be furnished. These tools are the permanent property 
of the clubs and must be properly taken care of. Tools that are lost or broken 
must be replaced. A market will be found for the crops. If any dry farmer 
wishes to give his crop to his parents, he may do so. 

All the dry farmers will be required to pay for their seed potatoes out of their 
crops. If any dry farmer wishes to take a part of his lot for other vegetables 
he may do so, but he must funish his own seed. All the tap-rooted vegetables,, 
such as turnips, carrots, parsnips, radishes, beets, and kohl rabi can be raised 
by dry-farming methods. The leaf vegetables that are not sensitive to cold t 
such as lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, and Swiss chard, can be raised by dry- 
farming methods, and, if established early, will be ready for the market by 
the time the winter rains cease. Garden peas, horse beans, and onions planted 
before Christmas make very good crops. 

In order to develop scientific and skillful methods of cultivation, we will 
have a potato contest next August, when the potato crops will be ready for 
the market. The contest will probably be held on the Exposition grounds. 
Prizes will be awarded. The potatoes will be judged by a score card. The 
quality of the potatoes and the yield will be the important factors. Full de- 
tails will be given in regard to the contest later on. 

The University of California offers a correspondence course on potato culture. 
We hope that many of the club members will take up this correspondence course. 

Thirty-nine boys and one girl completed the work. Largest lot was 50x110. 
There were three centers for the dry-farming clubs, Glen Park School, Horace 
Mann Vocational School, and Peoples Place, a College Settlement near North 
Beach, 555 Chestnut Street. There was a little more than 2 acres of ground 
cultivated by the clubs. Miss Wade, the principal, visited nearly all of the 
plats, as did also Rev. D. O. Crowley, of the playground commission. Some of 
the crops were good, some fair, and some poor. There was a bitter, blasting 
gale of wind that broke the leaves and vines in the open spaces. From the 
standpoint of the children, the work was successful. 

DISTRICT STUDIES. 

Because of the marked variation in living condition, soil, and 
topographic features it has been found more convenient to intensify 
this study by dividing the city into seven districts. The short time 
available for actual field work makes it impracticable to define 
sharply the boundary lines of each. 

Each district has been studied under five headings, viz, general 
aspects, living conditions, occupations of children, economic value of 
gardening, and agricultural interests of the home that might become 
school directed projects. Four tables for each district accompany 
the text. 

Averages in the totals of district and summary tables, often 
referred to in the text, were computed from school and district 
averages and not from individual reports. 



SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 



575 



NOETHEAST SECTION DISTRICT NO. 1. 

Schools: Hancock, Sarah B. Cooper, Jean Tarker, Garfield, Washington Grammar, Wash- 
ington Irving, Oriental, and Ungraded. 

The foreign quarter, commonly spoken of as the North Beach 
section, including Chinatown and the Latin Quarters, forms a city 
unto itself. Cut off as it is by the bay on the north and east and 
by ridges on the south and west, this district has a social life of its 
own which merits careful consideration. 

Living conditions {I 1 able 186). — Because of the natural barriers to 
expansion, this district has become very congested. Flats, tene- 
ments, and apartments crowd each other for space, and the open 
areas are found in many cases to be only where high banks and out- 
cropping ledges have made building too costly. The building lots in 
this section vary in size from 25 by 100 to 30 by 137^ feet, but 
even the backs of the longer lots are generally used for some kind 
of structure. 



Table 1S6. — Living conditions, District No. I. 



Schools'. 


Number 
of chil- 
dren 
reported. 


Number 
living in 
fiats, 
t ne- 
ments, 
and 
apart- 
ments. 


Size of. 

building 

lots. 


Chil- 
dren who 

could 
have gar- 
den plais 
20 by 20 

feet. 


At? ther^ small 
vacant lots for 
all childr n not 
having back- 
yard space? 


A rather^ large 

plats for school 

gardens? l 




Yes. 


No. 


Yes. 


No. 




621 
312 
541 
343 
577 
214 
440 
25 


376 
195 
309 
195 
345 
100 
344 
25 


25 by 100 
25 by 125 
25 by 137£ 
25 by 13;* 
30 by 137* 
25 by 100 
30 by 137* 
25 by 100 


65 

10 

51 

24 

47 

8 






3 
1 

2 
1 
2 




10 
5 

11 
5 
9 
3 
7 


3 
2 

1 
1 
1 




11 




4 


Joan 1 'arker 


11 


Garfield 


6 


Washington Grammar 

Washington Irving 


10 
3 


Oriental 


6 




1 






Total 


3,073 


1,889 




205 


9 


51 


8 


52 









1 From teachers' reports. 

A study of the fire insurance map of the district was deceptive, 
as it shows that, in the 15 blocks surrounding the Hancock School, 
there are 319,175 square feet of vacant ground, but a visit to the 
section showed that at least half of this area was outcropping ledge 
and steep banks which could not be used for gardening. On this 
basis it would not be possible to find plats larger than 10 by 12 feet 
for the G21 children of the upper grades of the Hancock School, and 
these lots would be scattered and the gardens hard to protect. With- 
out doubt a more careful study of the whole district would reveal 
enough space for each child to have a small garden since, to the east, 
near the Garfield School, there are larger areas. 

From the eight schools of this district reports were received from 
teachers representing 3,073 children of the fourth, fifth, sixth, sev- 



576 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



enth, and eighth grades. Of this number of children, 1,889 lived 
in apartment houses, tenements, or flats where the back yard, if any, 
must be used by two or more families. In the case of only 205 chil- 
dren was there as much as 400 square feet of home back-yard space. 

Occupations of children (Table 187). — In studying the occupations 
of the children of the district it was found that, of the 1,G34 boys, 
3G2 worked after school hours, earning an average of $2.20 per week, 
and 277 worked during the vacation, earning $3.25 per week. More 
than half of these boys are engaged in selling papers, many being 
stationed on Market street and other principal down-town sections, 
often in bad environments. 



Table 187. — Occupations of children, District No. I. 







Children 


earning money outside home. 


Children working at 
home. 




Reporting. 






















. 




Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girts. 










u 




u. 




lm 






















o 




<S 












a 


2.* 


a 










A 




Q> 




Ck 




A 


£ C 


s © 


Schools. 








a, 




5P 




1 




0B 

bo 


c c 
.n 3. 


x3 




£j 










a 




a 




a 




a 




,o 




3 








o 
S3 


1* 

if 


a 

o 


n 

CO 
60 









<s 
a> 

60 


a 



II 

two 


1: 

— <- 
c = 


CO 


Big 


9 




CO 


JS 


u 
o 




8 


2 


0) 


OS 


n 


2 


s| 


a 


Sfa 
2 


a 




o 


.— • 


a 


> 


03 


> 


i^ 


> 


OS 


K» 




3 


>x: 


a 




tt 


O 


< 


< 


> 


< 


«< 


< 


> 


< 


-^ 


z 


•< 


z 


Han^o^k 


364 
163 


257 
149 


72 
14 


S2.37 
1.70 


44 
9 


?3. 73 
2.50 


1 


$1.50 

1 00 


5 
5 


$4.33 


6 
9 


59 
5 


£ ! 


36 


Sarah B. Cooper 


16 


Joan Parker 




14S 
577 


541 

195 





34 
1S3 


'i'.ki' 

2.3ft 



23 

148 


"2.'s6' 
3. 45 


14 

7 



1 m 
1.75 


12 

6 



3 50 
3.50 



6 
14 



34 
101 


7J 
7 



?n 


Garfield 


38 


Washington Grammar 





Washington Irving 


107 


107 


21 


2. 25 


22 


3 8i 







2 


5.00 


5 


19 


4 


20 


Oriental 


256 
19 


184 
6 


34 

4 


2.37 
2.50 


27 
4 


3.41 
3.00 


49 



3.50 


45 




3.50 


7 
10 


9 



15 
14 


3 


Ungraded 









Total 


1,634 


1,439 


362 


2.20 


277 


3.25 


72 


1.76 


75 


3.96 


8 


227 


9 


133 



Of the others who work, the chief occupations are in stores, as 
delivery boys, or work for private families, the latter principally 
from the Oriental School. Seventy-two of the 1,430 girls work after 
school, and 75 are employed during vacation. More than half of 
this number is made up of Oriental School girls, who are engaged 
in domestic service in American families. These girls earn an aver- 
age of $1.7G per week after school and $3.9G during the vacation. 

The city home of the congested quarter does not often offer an 
opportunity for occupation of the children. Of the 1,G34 boys, only 
227 have definite home duties for which they are paid, and all are 
engaged in home duties on an average of only a little over one hour 
per day. The 1,439 girls work at home on an average of 9 hours 
per week, and 133 have definite occupations in the home, for which 
they are paid. 



SCHOOL-DIBECTED GARDENING. 



577 



Economic value of gardening ( Table 1SS) . — In any consideration 
of the value of children's gardening to a district, family vegetable 
food costs must be considered. The teachers were asked to ascertain 
for their district the cost of vegetable foods for a family of five 
persons for one year. The estimates received range from $35 to 
$81.18, with an average of $57.79. 

Table 1SS. — Economic chart, District No. 1. 



Schools. 


Children 
in school. 


Average 
daily 

attend- 
ance. 


Annual 
vegetable 
food eost 
for family 

of five. 


Following the fruit. 


Children leav- 
ing school to 
work. 


Num- 
ber. 


Pate of 
leaving 
school. 


Date of re- 
turn to 
school. 


Num- 
ber. 


Cause. 


Hancock 


640 
850 


596 
7nfi 


$76.95 
65.00 
57,55 
40.48 
46.20 
35.00 
81. 18 
60.00 




2 
20 

19 
50 







20 

8 

16 
20 
4 

o 




Sarah M. Cooper 








Jean Parker 


784 71 a 


May, June 
Feb. 15.... 


Aug., Sept 
Octl 


Do. 


Garfield 


890 
7(51 
520 
695 
27 


804 
699 
428 
575 
20 




Washington Grammar 


Do. 


Washington Irving 


Mar., Apr. 
July 


Sept., Oct.. 
Sept 


Do. 


Orient al 


Do. 


Ungraded 












Total 


5,167 


4,541 


57.79 


91 


Feb 


Oct 


68 









Several schools were visited and the children questioned on occupa- 
tion, home interests, etc., and, among others, the question in regard 
to the cost of vegetable foods was asked in several schoolrooms, As 
was expected in most sections of the city, the children had very little 
idea of the money value of food, but in the upper grades of the 
schools of the North Beach section, quite to the surprise of the ques- 
tioner, the older girls got out pencil and paper and figured so much 
per day, month, year, and in three rooms of different schools an 
answer of $68 was received and many other answers varied only 
slightly. 

On further inquiry it was found that the fathers of these children 
were often fishermen who were away from home for weeks at a time, 
the mother worked in canning and bag factories, and the girls became 
heads of the families, being intrusted with the money for the pur- 
chase of food, but every cent must be accounted for. These children, 
with small carts, go to the wharf as early as 4 o'clock in the morning 
to purchase of Italian vegetable gardeners who come across the bay, 
and thus the vegetables bought are superior in freshness and less in 
price than the same commodity would be if purchased in another part 
of the city. 

In this section there are many needy families,, and from 60 to 70 
of the children leave the grades each year just as soon as the age law 
will permit. About another 100 children leave school in February, 
March, and April to go to fruit-picking camps and do not return to 

03S15— 17— 37 



578 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



the city to school until from the last of September to the first of 
November. 

Agricultural interests of the home that might become school- 
directed projects (Table 180). — Considering the congestion of this 
district, the children report a relatively large number of gardens at 
their homes. Of the 3,073 children, 501 state that a garden of flowers 
or vegetables is cared for by their parents or by themselves. Nearly 
all of the children state, however, that these gardens are so small 
that they have little economic significance. Poultry is kept at the 
homes of 108 children, pigeons are kept at 115, and rabbits at G7. 
In these reports on gardens, poultry, pigeons, and rabbits there are 
without doubt duplications caused by the school attendance of several 
children from the same family. 



Table 189.- 



-Agricultural interests of the home that might become school- 
directed projects, District No. I. 



Schools. 


Number of children reported. 


Number of childron having— 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


Gardens. 


Toultry. 


Tigcons. 


Rabbits. 




361 

163 

148 
577 
107 
2f»6 
19 


257 
149 
541 
195 

() 
107 
1S4 

6 


621 
312 
541 
343 
577 
214 
440 
25 


133 
45 
114 
65 
103 
44 
2 
4 


IS 
11 
9 
35 
21 
U 




20 
8 
15 
24 
33 
7 
8 



IS 


Sarah B.Coipcr 


4 


Jean 1 'arker 


9 


Garfield 


14 


Washington Grammar 


20 




4 


Oriental 


1 


Ungraded 









TotaJ .: 


1,634 


1,439 


3,073 


510 


10S 


115 


67 







NOBTH CENTBAL SECTION — DISTEICT NO. II. 
Schools : Verba Buena, Winfleld Scott, and Sherman. 

The district bounded by the Presidio, Golden Gate, and North 
Beach district has enough elements of difference from the territory 
to the south to warrant separate consideration. The soil is a light, 
sandy loam, and in most cases is level. Some very productive gardens 
were found in back yards and vacant lots. 

Living conditions (Table 100). — A study of 1*2 blocks near- the 
Yerba Buena School shows a total of 3.7 acres of vacant lots and 
back yards that could be used for gardening. In only 4 out of 35 
blocks was less than 5,000 square feet of usable ground found, and the 
average was over 12,000 square feet per block. While the building 
lots are small, averaging 25 by 137J feet, the houses do not take up as 
much space as in many other districts, and thus there is more back- 
yard room. 



SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 
Table 190. — Living conditions, District No. II. 



579 



Schools. 


Children 
reported. 


Number 
living 

in 
flats, 
tene- 
ments, 
and 
apart- 
ments. 


Size of 

building 

lots in the 

district. 


Number 
of chil- 
dren who 

could 
have gar- 
den plats 
20 by 20 
feet. 


Are there 
small vacant 

lots for all 
children not 
having back- 
yard space? 


Are thero 
large plats 
for sthool 
gardens? 




No. 


Yes. 


No. 


Yes. 


Yerba Buena 


314 
141 
231 


113 

41 

162 


25 by 100 
50 by 137 
30 by 137£ 


55 
37 

45 


2 

3 


3 
5 
2 


1 

4 


4 


Winfield Scott 


3 


Sherman. 


1 






Total.... 


746 


316 




137 


5 


10 


5 


8 









Of the 746 children who reported from the three schools of the 
district, 31G, or 42.3 per cent, lived in flats, tenements, or apartments. 
If individual project gardening was started in this district, vacant 
lots could be found for about one-half of the children. The teachers 
report that 137 of the children have 400 square feet each of garden 
space in their own back yards. Eleven of the teachers state that 
there are enough vacant lots so that gardens might be provided for 
all children, and 10 state that there are not enough such spaces; 14 
teachers report large vacant lots near the school that could be used 
as school gardens. 

Occupations of children (Table 101). — The greater number of boys 
who are employed outside the home are engaged in selling and de- 
livering newspapers. The next occupation of importance is work in 
stores or delivering goods from the small groceries of the neighbor- 
hood. Of the 3G3 boys who were reported by the teachers of the 3 
schools 85 work after school and G3 during vacation, earning $2.09 
and $3.02 per week, respectively. Only 5 girls work after school, 
earning an average of $1.23, and without doubt the same individuals 
worked during- vacation. Forty-two boys had definite home duties 
for which they were paid. All of the boys worked an average of !> 
hours per week each, and 45 girls were paid for home work and 
worked an average of 8 hours per week. The home duties of boys 
consisted largely of errands, care of lawns, and in a few cases in the 
care of gardens and poultry. Practically all girls helped with 
housework. 



580 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

Table 191. — Occupations of children, District No. II. 



Schools. 



Reporting. 



Children earning money outside home. 



Boys. 



Girls. 



Children work- 
ing at home. 



Bays. Girls 



,2 a 

a* 



-O 03 



Yerba Buona. 
Winfield Scott 
Sherman 

Total... 



150 

68 

145 



164 

73 

146 



$1.72 
2139 
2.07 



$3.60 
3.10 
2.35 



$1.23 






$2.91 

6.00 





10 



363 



383 



85 



2.09 



63 



3.02 



1.23 



42 



45 



Economic value of gardening (Table 192). — The average cost of 
vegetables for a family of five persons for one year, as estimated by 
the teachers of this district, is $78.92. No special attempt was made 
to obtain estimates of vegetable food costs from housewives, but 
many of the teachers' reports appear to be based on investigation 
and seem to be fairly accurate. Only G children are reported as 
leaving school early to go to fruitrpieking camps, and 15 to go to 
work. In all cases the cause of leaving school to work was given as 
"family need." 



Table 192. — Economic chart, District No. II. 



Schools. 


Total 

number 

children 

in 

school. 


Average 
daily 

attend- 
ance. 


Annual 

vegetable 

food cost 

for 

family 

of five. 


Following the fruit. 


Leaving 

school to 

work. 


Num- 
ber. 


Date of 
leaving 
school. 


Date of 
return. 


Num- 
ber. 


Cause. 




513 
2U 
575 


470 
207 
498 


$65. 00 
78. 75 
93.00 


6 




July...... 


Sept 


12 
3 



Need. 


Winfield Scott.. 


Do. 








Do. 










Total 


1,319 


1,175 


78.92 


6 


15 













Agricultural interests of the home that might become school- 
directed projects (Table 103). — In many of the homes of this district 
the number of activities of the home that may become educative and 
productive projects for children is large. Of the 746 children re- 
porting, some kind of garden is cared for at 203 homes, G6 have 
poultry, 16 pigeons, and 36 rabbits. Except for the care of indi- 



SCHOOL-DIKECTED GARDENING. 



581 



vidual or pairs of animals as pets, the children seem to have little 
part in what to them may be made the most interesting feature of 
the home life. 

Table 193. — Agricultural interests of the home that might become school-directed 

projects. 



Schools. 


Number of children reported. 


Number of children having— 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


Gardens. 


Poultry. 


Pigeons. 


Rabbits. 




150 
68 
145 


164 
73 
146 


314 
141 
291 


72 
61 
70 


35 
18 
13 


7 
3 
6 


v 7 


Winfield Scott 


14 




15 






Total 


363 


383 


746 


203 


66 


16 


36 







WESTERN SECTION, DISTRICT NO. HI. 



Schools : Francis Scott Key, Lafayette, Rochambeau, Jefferson, Sutro, Columbus, Laguna 
Honda, Frank McCoppin, George Peabody, Roosevelt, Madison, and Parkside. 

This large area, extending from the Pacific Ocean to a line drawn 
north and south at the eastern edge of Golden Gate Park, has been 
considered as one district. If the ocean side section of this district 
were to be immediately compared with the eastern, marked vari- 
ation would be shown, but, as the change in soil and living conditions 
from west to east is gradual, the whole falls naturally into a single 
subdivision. On the west the soil is of a typical sand-dune forma* 
tion» Very little humus is contained in this soil, and a great quan- 
tity of water is now necessary to support vegetation during the dry 
summer. Moving eastward it is found that the soil conditions 
improve naturally or have been improved by man. A study of 
the beauties of Golden Gate Park demonstrates that, if the people 
were taught to improve the soil and care for growing plants, this 
section might be made one of the most productive and attractive 
of the city. 

Living conditions (Table 194). — Near the Lafayette and Francis 
Scott Key Schools there are large open tracts of sandy land, and 
throughout the district there are many vacant lots. Spaces large 
enough for school gardens could be found near all of the schools, 
and were all of the vacant lots of the district turned into gardens, 
all the upper-grade children might be given large plats. A study 
of the fire insurance plat maps of 12 blocks near the Sutro School 
showed that there were slightly over 11J acres of vacant lots. The 
map used had not been completely brought down to date, but ex- 
amination of the blocks showed that few of the lots have yet been 
built upon. The school department owns a large lot near the Sutro 
School which was used as a school garden for several years, but 



582 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



was finally abandoned. Lots within walking distances of other 
schools of the district are also owned by the board of education, 
and at present no use is being made of this land. 

Table 194. — Living conditions, District No. III. 



Schools. 



Francis ScottfKey 

Lafayette 

Ro?hambeau 

Jefferson 

Sutro 

Columbus 

Laguna Honda — 
Frank McCoppin.. 
George Peabody.. 

Roosevelt 

Malison. 

Parksi Je 

Total 



204 

150 

438 
207 
575 
98 
621 
555 
263 
458 
436 



4,035 



11 

.ss 

aa 



21 

7 

74 

26 

97 

17 

156 

134 

62 

153 

134 

4 



885 



= 3 



25 by 120 
25 by 100 
30 by 120 
25 by 120 
25 by 120 
25 by 120 
25 by 120 
25 by 120 
25 by 100 
25 by 120 
25 by 120 
25 by 137 
40 by 120 



2,2 






93 

180 
100 
169 

37 
209 

98 

81 
108 
123 

20 






No. Yes. 



5 

us 






2,2 



No. Yes. 



35 



50 



The real-estate subdivisions of this whole district have been 
divided into building lots 25 by 100 feet. In most cases only a single 
lot has been used for a dwelling and the uncovered yard space is 
small, especially in the eastern section. Questionnaires were filled 
out by 98 children of the Francis Scott Key School, of which 
number 27 had no yard space, while the other 71 averaged 1,441 
square feet. In the Sutro School answers were received from 73 
children, 30 of whom had no yard space at their homes. The other 
43 « ^-aged 1,317 square feet, but, if a large tract at the home of 
one chnd is eliminated, this average falls to 178 square feet. 

The number of children living in flats, tenements, and apartment 
houses increases in direct ratio to the distance from the ocean. The 
Lafayette, Francis Scott Key, and Jefferson Schools have the lowest 
percentage of children living in dwellings where the yard must be 
used by two or more families, and the Roosevelt and Madison the 
highest. Even in the sections at the far edge of the city the number 
living in flats and apartments is abnormally high. From figures 
furnished by the teacher it is shown that 21.8 per cent of the children 
live where the yard space is common property, and only 30.2 per 
cent have space 20 by 20 feet for a back yard of flowers and vegetables. 
The teachers' estimates as to the number of vacant lots available 
vary markedly. The majority, however, state that there are enough 



SCHOOL-DIRECTED CAEDEXIXG. 



583 



vacant lots so that each child could have a large garden, and also 
that there are large spaces near the schools for community school 
gardens. 

Occupations of children {Table 195). — In the study of the occu- 
pations of children it was found that of the 2,012 boys in the 
schools 393 work outside the home to earn money after school and 
273 during the vacation. The average earnings per week were $1.78 
for afterschool work and $2.95 during the vacation. The largest 
number of the boys were engaged in delivering and selling news- 
papers, and working in stores was the second employment in im- 
portance. Of the 2,023 girls who were reported, 24 worked after 
school, earning an average of $1.40, and 19 during the vacation, 
averaging in earnings $2.09. Of boys, 510, and of girls, 442 claimed 
to have some definite home duties. The average number of hours 
of home work per week was five and one-half, or less than one hour 
per day for both boys and girls. 

Table 195. — Occupations o/ children, District No. HI. 









Children earning money outside home. 


Children working 
at home. 




Reporting. 






















Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 










u 




t* 




u 




M 


CO 




Cfi 


2 










ft 




ft 




ft 




ft 




a 


3^* 


1 


Schools. 








w 














"5 8 


* 


J3 o 


A 










bO 




to 




M 




bO 




(H 


o p 












E-* 




g 








a 


GO CO 

rf= ft 


,© 


iC ft 


~a 








§ 


$g 




§1 


"3 

o 


n 




4 




03 C 
ft£ 


SiS 

3° 


II 




to 

o 


m 

a 


■3 

OB 

o 

< 


I 

CD 

> 
< 


| 

03 
O 
C3 

> 


I 

< 


■s 

CO 

< 


CD 

2 
% 
< 


a 

o 

1 

es 


i 

2 

o 

< 


> i 


(4 

S3 

a 

3 

17 


o ^ 
bf. CO 

es g 
o> o 

8 

Q 


co 

2 




108 


% 


17 


$1.83 
1.32 


22 


$2. 25 
1.83 




n 




7 



$1.62 


7 


17 

31 


Lafavctl e 


61 


89 


18 


15 




6 


16 




236 


202 


60 


2 09 


35 


3 10 


o 






1 




6 


52 


6 

bh 

4 

6 

3 


30 
29 
89 
4 
92 
34 




98 


109 


13 


1 00 


15 


2 10 


o 


o 


1.00 
2.00 

o 


5 


35 




285 


290 


40 


2 46 


22 


3 75 


3 


$1.50 

o 


g 


114 
2 

89 




48 


50 


3 


70 


3 


3 50 


o 




4 



2* 
5 




303 


318 


85 


1 50 


S3 


3 50 


5 


2 10 


2.70 



Frank- McCoppin 


287 


268 


47 


1.86 


10 


3.10 








5 


58 


George Peabody 


123 


140 


30 


1.70 


11 


2 03 


1 


.50 


4 


3 25 


8 


g 


10 
6 


3 


Roosevelt 


220 


238 


53 


2.31 


34 


3. 65 


15 


1.50 


? 


2.00 


8 


54 


62 


W ad ison 


229 


207 


?7 


2.85 


m 


3. 66 














3 


69 


3 


50 


Parkside 


14 


16 
























4 


2 


7 


o 






Total 


2,012 


2,023 


393 


1.78 


273 


2.95 


24 


1.40 


19 


2.09 


5£ 


510 


54 


442 







Economic value of gardening to the home {Table 106).— The 
greater part of the vegetables purchased in this section are obtained 
from hucksters and from large and small grocers. The whole section 
is interspersed with small grocery and provision shops. The house- 
wives interviewed (the number is too small to base definite conclu- 



584 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 



sion) in the larger number of cases purchased most often from 
hucksters, and the surplus was bought at local stores. The cost of 
vegetables, as averaged from the teachers' reports, for a family of 
five for one year was $81.08, the average for the individual schools 
varying from $46.50 to $114.80. The housewives placed the vege- 
table cost between $60 and $112, with about $85 most commonly 
given. Only 3 children were reported as leaving school early to go 
to fruit-picking camps, and only 24 left school at the legal age to 
work. In the case of all but one school, the cause given for leaving 
school to work was " family need." 

Table 196. — Economic chart, District No. III. 





Chil- 
dren in 

tho 
school. 


Aver- 
age 
daily 
attend- 
ance. 


Annual 
cost of 
vege- 
table 
foods 
for 
family 
of five. 


Following the fruit. 


Children leaving 
school to work. 


Schools. 


Num- 
ber. 


Date of 
leaving 
school. 


Date of return 
to school. 


Num- 
ber. 


Cause. 


Francis Scott Key 

Lafayette 


278 

242 
775 

262 
842 

220 
799 
781 
455 

618 

5X8 
54 


251 

211 

704 
236 

747 

204 
733 
717 
427 

566 

544 

46 


$76.33 

94.40 
93.56 
72.80 
102.63 

46.50 
91.44 
84.50 
83.36 

69.90 
114.80 
50.00 






3 












At close of 
school 


At opening 
of school 





3 

5 



1 
3 

12 






Rochambeau 






Need. 


Jefferson 


June 1 


Aug. 30 




Sutro.... 


Wanted to 


Columbus 






work; need. 


Laguna Honda 

Frank McCoppin 

George Pcabody 

Roosevelt 












Need. 






Wanted to 






work; need. 


Madison 








Parkside 
















Total 


5,914 


5,386 


81.68 


3 






24 













Agricultural interests of the home that might become school- 
directed home projects (Table 107) .—Because of the more open 
character of a large part of this district, the opportunity for home 
interests is greater than in most other parts of the city. The study 
of the out-of-door activities in which the children might take part 
gave the following results: Of the 4,035 children reporting, 1,430 of 
the homes had gardens, 472 poultry, 128 pigeons, and 211 rabbits. 
In this list there is without doubt much duplication, both in the dif- 
ferent interests and also in the case of several children from the 
same family. 



SCHOOL-DIKECTED GARDENING. 



585 



Table 197. — Agricultural interests of the home that might become school-directed 
projects, District No. III. 



Schools. 


Number of children reported. 


Number of children having — 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


Gardens. 


Poultry. 


Pigeons. 


Rabbits. 


Francis Scott Key 


108 
61 

23G 

98 

285 

48 

303 

287 

123 

220 

220 

14 


96 

89 
202 
109 
290 

50 
318 
268 
140 
238 
207 

16 


204 
150 
438 
207 
575 

98 
621 
555 
263 
458 
436 

30 


98 

62 
164 

96 
219 

51 
223 
147 

38 

169 

159 

4 


47 
32 
59 
42 
55 
32 
83 
53 
6 

55 
8 



12 
3 

12 
4 

19 
7 

21 

18 
6 

20 
6 



25 


3 -afa volte 


9 


] I ocli an i beau 


40 


JelTerson 


16 


Sutro 


22 


Columbus 


6 


Lacuna Honda 


37 


Frank McCoppin 


16 


George 1'cabody 


6 


Roosevelt 


26 


M adison 


7 


Parksidc 


1 






Total 


2,012 


2,023 


4,035 


1,430 


472 


128 


211 







From personal investigation and questions asked the children, it 
appears that only a small percentage of the children own or have 
definite duties in caring for the gardens or animals as an economic 
project in the home. In most cases where plants or animals are 
reared for profit, the parents assume complete control and any work 
the children may do becomes drudgery through lack of ownership 
or partnership. 

THE CENTEAL SECTION, DISTKICT NO. IV. 

Schools : Grant, Tacific Heights, Spring Valley, Emerson, Redding, Hamilton Interme- 
diate, Adams, Henry Durant, Golden Gate, Fremont, John Swett, Andrew Jackson, 
Dcninan, Crocker Intermediate, Moulder, Dudley Stone, Hearst, McKinley, Gratton, 
Everett, and Douglas. 

This district is broken by ridges and peaks which have divided it 
into sections having considerable individual differences. As seen 
from the hills of La Fayette and Buena Vista Parks, however, the 
whole has enough points in common to warrant consideration as one 
district. The wealthier section is on the northwest, where more 
detached houses are to be found. The soil of the lower levels is 
sandy, while that of the hills and ridges is somewhat heavier. 

Living conditions (Table 198). — As a whole the district is rather 
closely built. The building lots are 25 by 100 or 25 by 137J. There 
are many flats and apartment houses and hotels. Of the 8,316 chil- 
dren reported, 3,009 live in apartments, flats, or tenements, where 
the yard space must be used by two or more families. Play space 
for children is only to be found in streets, vacant lots, and parks. A 
large number of vacant lots are still to be found but in the east sec- 
tion some are still encumbered by ruins and basement walls left by 
the fire, and are not usable for gardening. Some of the larger lots 
would make very satisfactory gardens. 



586 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO, 



Table 198. — Living conditions. District No. IV. 



Schools. 


t5 

1 

o 

1 

a 
1 

a 

o 


"8 C3 

a* 
r§ - 

fc&vs 

p P « 


.9 

w 

jS 

fl'g 

tl 

o 

S 

to 


*! • 

i% 
hi 

o ^ 

a o p. 
J? 


Are there small 
vacant lots for 
all children not 
having back- 
yard space? 


§1 

£ 03 
JjP." 




No. 


Yes. 

2 




1 
1 
4 



3 
1 
• 4 
3 
1 

1 
8 
8 
3 
1 


No. 


Yes. 


Grant 


370 
461 
534 
296 
321 
432 
500 
278 
198 
504 
575 
21 
350 
544 
107 
313 
449 
636 
537 
663 
227 


105 
159 
315 
121 
218 
156 
282 
183 
136 
244 
308 

16 
191 
169 

54 
189 
223 
227 
211 
317 

76 


25 bvlOO 
27J by 100 
25 byl37£ 
25 by 125 
25 byl37i 
25 by 120 
37J by 125 
25 by 120 
25 by 100 
25 by 125 
25 byl37.J 
25 byl37£ 
25 by \Z1\ 
25 by 100 
25 by 120 
25 by 100 
25 by 120 
25 by 100 
25 by 125 
25 by 100 
25 by 120 


112 

79 

75 

64 

53 

99 

37 

51 

12 

57 

42 

21 

101 

182 

6 

35 

41 

154 

158 

176 

72 


3 
12 
11 
5 
6 
6 
8 
6 
5 
11 
8 

4 
9 
1 
7 
9 
2 
3 
8 
4 


3 

12 
11 
5 
6 
6 
7 
5 
5 
11 
6 
1 
5 
7 
1 
7 

10 
2 
2 
11 
5 


3 


Taoific Heights 





Spring Valley 





Emerson 





Redding 


1 


Hamilton Intermediate 





A dams 


4 


Hcnrv Durant 


1 


Golden Gate 





Fremont 





John Swett 


7 


Andrew Jackson 





Denman 


3 


C rocker Intermediate 


5 


Moulder 


1 


Dudley Stone 





Hearst 





McK inley 


8 


Gratton 


9 


Everett 





Douglas 









Total 


8,316 


3,900 




1,627 


128 


41 


128 


42 









The majority of the teachers think it would be impossible to 
obtain enough small vacant lots for gardens for all older children, 
and also that the money value of the lots is so high that, while there 
are enough large plats, they could not be obtained for school gardens. 
The back yards are small, and many are paved or board covered. Of 
the 8,31G children reported, the teachers estimate that only 1,G27 
have 400 square feet of back yard space which could be used for 
gardening. 

Occupations of children {Table 100). — Something more than half 
of the school boys of this district who have occupations outside the 
home are engaged in the selling and distribution of newspapers. 
Other important occupations arc work in stores, principally local 
drug and grocery stores, store delivery, and message service. The 
girls earn money by helping in stores, housework, and caring for 
small children. 



SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 587 

Table 199. — Occupations of children, District No. IV. 





Number 
reported. 


Children earning money outside home. 


Children working 
at home. 


1 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Schools. 


OS 

© 

P3 


3 


o 

1 

© 

< 


© 

© 
& 

© 
© 

5] 

C3 

© 

> 


i 

8 

03 
> 


© 

% 
1 
1 

d 

© 
© 
if 

© 
> 
< 


1 

o 

© 

< 


© 
% 

Jj 

'3 

© 
© 

* 

< 


o 

1 

> 


© 

& 
I 

3 

© 
© 

g 

© 
> 


I . 

A <o 
._ © 
Oft 

A* 

II 

©.c 
< 


© 

B 
o 

Xi 

Js 

15 © 

© 

a 

3 

2 


jL 

_ © 

fi-S 

3 O 

£§ 
J* 


© 

o 

"3 O 

u 
© 

1 

3 
25 


Grant 


201 
247 
251 
148 
164 
204 
248 
150 

97 
298 
304 

14 



282 

56 
166 
248 
327 
275 
329 
104 


169 
214 
283 
148 
157 
228 
252 
128 
101 
206 
271 
7 
350 
262 
51 
147 
201 
309 
262 
334 
123 


28 
45 
71 
26 
36 
62 
53 
49 
14 
40 
105 




85 

6 
15 
43 
76 
53 
62 

1 


$1.87 
2.00 
1.60 
1.50 
2.18 
1.95 
1.46 
1.81 
1.31 
2.04 
1.94 


1.96 
1.38 
L18 
2.26 
1.45 
1.54 
2.06 
1.25 


29 
50 
49 
30 
44 
52 
33 
49 
17 
39 
105 




98 

6 
20 
38 
72 
62 
62 

4 


$2.97 
3.10 
2.75 
2.46 
4.12 
3.26 
2.68 
2.31 
2.21 
2.67 
3.10 


3.79 
2.00 
1.36 
3.28 
2.44 
2.49 
2.96 
1.25 




4 
1 
2 


1 


4 

2 
5 



9 

1 






$2.00 

2.50 

1.50 





1.00 





2.90 



.55 

2.17 





"i."59° 



1.00 





2 
1 
1 

! 


3 


5 

2 
5 


1 

18 

2 





«2.00 

1.00 

l.:0 

2.50 

2.00 



3.25 





3.41 



4.20 

3.08 





"i.°46* 



1.25 




4 

4 

4 

5 

6 

6 

3£ 

5 

8 

5| 

5* 





f 

6 

7 

5* 

6 

5 

4 


48 
35 

64 
39 
?5 


4 
3 
5 
5 
7 


1?, 


Pacific Heights 


4? 


Spring Valley 


66 


Emerson 


34 


Redding 


19 


Hamilton Intermediate 

Adams 


33 
31 


12 


26 
?5 


Henry Durant 


39 

6 

9 

37 





49 

13 

44 

24 

111 

85 

58 

?3 


6 

6 

6 

h 



6 

64 

5 

6 

8 

7| 

5 

6 

4 


?8 


Golden Gate 


3 


Fremont 


3 


John Swei t 


41 


Andrew Jackson 





Denman 


5? 


Crocker Intermediate 

Moulder 


27 

8 


Dudley Stone 


41 


Hearst 


17 


McKinley 


102 


Gratton 


66 


Everett 


35 


Douglas 


33 








Total 


4,113 


4,203 


870 


1.72 


859 


2.69 


30 


1.69 


42 


2.31 


5.3 773 


5 9 


680 













Of the 4,113 boys from whom statistics were collected by the 
teachers, 870 worked after school hours, earning an average of $1.72 
each per week, and 859 had vacation employment, earning an aver- 
age of $2.G9 each. Thirty girls who worked in the out-of-school 
hours earned an average of $1.G9 each, and in vacation 42 averaged 
$2.31 in earnings. The average number of hours of employment per 
week of boys in the home was 5.3, and of girls, 5.9 ; and 773 boys and 
680 girls received small sums of money for work at home. In a few 
cases this work is such that it requires a definite amount of time 
each day, but more often the tasks are irregular, not occurring 
oftener than once a week. 

Economic value of gardening. — -The teachers' estimates of the 
value of vegetables used by a family of five persons per year 
in this district average $S8.18 for one year. Without doubt 
this estimate is fairly accurate as an average for the district. Nine- 
teen children are reported as earning money by picking fruit, cither 
leaving school before the close of the school year or returning after 
its opening. Of the 99 children who left school to work during the 



588 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



past school year, need of the family, retardation, ill health, desire to* 
"work, and dislike of school were given as the reasons for leaving. 

Agricultural interests of the home that might become school- 
directed projects (Table 200). — Of the things kept at the homes that 
might furnish definite occupation and form habits of industry in 
the children, there are 2,1GG gardens, 2G3 homes keeping poultry,. 
139 keeping pigeons, and 252 keeping rabbits. As is the case in 
many other districts, the number of animals kept for economic pur- 
poses is small, and those kept as pets have a nature study rather 
than an occupational value for the children. 



Table 200. — Agricultural interests of the home that might become school-directed 
home projects, District No. IV. 



Schools. 


Number of children reported. 


Number of children having— 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


Gardens. 


Poultry. 


Pigeons. 


Rabbits. 


Grnnt 


201 
247 
251 
148 
lf>4 
204 
248 
150 

97 
298 
304 

14 



282 

56 
166 
248 
327 
275 
329 
104 


169 
214 
283 
148 
157 
228 
252 
128 
101 
206 
271 
7 
3. r >0 
262 
51 
147 
201 
309 
262 
334 
123 


370 

461 
534 
296 
321 
432 
500 
278 
198 
504 
575 
21 
350 
544 
107 
313 
449 
636 
537 
663 
227 


Ill 

132 

104 

76 

85 

144 

64 

53 

34 

110 

88 

6 

69 

172 

20 

101 

123 

240 

184 

180 

70 


12 
14 
4 

10 

15 

7 

10 

4 

3 

20 

2 



5 

29 

5 

4 

11 

44 

25 

28 

11 


9 

10 

1 



5 

5 

9 

3 

1 

9 

2 



5 

10 

2 

5 

6 

21 

14 

15 

7 


14 


Pacific nci ihts 


10' 


Spring Valley 


12 


Emerson 


7 


Redd in« 


4 


Hamilton Intermediate 


10 


Adams 


10 


Henry Ptirant . 


6 


Golden (late 


7 


Fremont. 


9 


John Swott 


12 




1 


Denman 


6 


Crocker Intermediate 


25 


Moulder 


13 




6 


Hearst 


12 


M c K in ley 


26 


G ra Hon 


26 


Everett 


27 




9 






Total * 


4,113 


4,203 


8,316 


2,166 


263 


139 


252 







EAST SECTION, DISTRICT NO. V. 



Schools : Rincon, Lincoln. Franklin, Ethan Allen, Marshall, Mission, Tatrick Henry, F.uena 
Vista, Daniel Wchstcr, Agassis, Irving M. Scott, Hawthorne, Bryant, Horace Mann, 
Columbia Cosmopolitan, Starr King, Haight, Bernal, Junipero Serra. 

The section east and south of Market Street and east of Dolores 
Street as far south as Islais Creek channel has been considered as 
one district. Between the Rincon and Lincoln Schools and Bernal 
and Junipero Ssrra Schools, the methods of children's gardening 
might well vary from the use of large and small vacant lots in the 
former to the possibility of obtaining large open areas in the latter. 
The most difficult place to obtain land for gardening is in the central 
part of the district near the Mission School. The soil is sandy, but 
heavier on the hills and ridges. 

Living conditions (Table 201). — From the 19 schools of the dis- 
trict, reports were received from 6,544 children, of whom 2,500 live- 



SCnOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 



589 



in flats, tenements, and apartments. The lots are 25 by 100 or 25 by 
137^ feet, which permit of small back-yard gardens, but prevent large 
economic returns. 



Table 201. — Living conditions, District No. V. 



Schools. 


8 

a 

e 

2 

Ui 
«— O 
Oft 

1 


a 
a 
"1 

60 es 

a 

Is 

a 

*_ » • 

•£ Z a 

PCS 

5? 


o 

a 

CO 

WW 

g& 

•COT 

.a 
*o 
o 

a 


" ft 

II 

111 


Are there small va- 
cant lots Tor all 
children not having 
back-yard space? 


2*- 

it 

ii 

S 3 




No. 


Yes. 


No. 


Yes. 


Rincon 


10 
292 
402 

57 
322 
5*0 
199 

95 
209 
455 
344 
220 
319 
873 
733 
161 
310 
570 
421 


3 
131 

210 

17 

200 

270 

78 

3S 

70 

220 

91 

125 

150 

3«4 

226 

37 

120 

49 

03 


25 by 100 
25 by 80 


23 

50 
18 
63 
80 
56 
20 
75 
78 

107 
40 
87 

301 

173 
54 
93 

171 
9* 



7 
3 

3 
9 
3 

2 
7 
5 
6 
5 
5 
7 

5 
1 
4 


1 

5 
3 
4 
1 
1 
3 
3 
3 
3 

2 
6 
5 
4 
1 
10 
1 



7 
3 

6 
8 
3 

2 
7 
3 
6 
6 
5 
8 

5 

3 


1 


Lincoln 


& 




6 


Ethan Allen 


25 by 100 
25 by 100 
30 bv 100 
25 by 100 
25 by 137£ 
25 by 100 
25 by 100 
25 by 100 
25 bv 120 
25 bv 80 
25 by 120 
25 bv 120 
25 bv 100 
25 by 112 
28 bv 110 
25 by 114 


3 




1 




2 


Patrick Henry 


1 


Bnena Vista 


3 


Daniel Webster 


3 


Agassis 


3 




5 




o 


Bryant 


1 


Horace \Iann 


9 


Columbia Cosmopolitan 




Starr K ing ; 




11 aigh t 




Bernal 


11 


Junipero Serra 








Total 


6,544 


2,500 


1,599 


72 


56 


72 


59 









Vacant-lot studies were made from the insurance map of the city 
at four of the schools of the district. In 12 blocks near the Lincoln 
School there were found to bo 19 J acres of vacant lots. Personal in- 
spection of these lots showed that many were rented as storage places 
for contractors' building materials, wagons, etc. Other lots were 
still encumbered by basement walls left by the fire. There are, how- 
ever, enough vacant lots usable and available to give large garden 
plats to all children of the school. Vacant lots in eight blocks near 
the Mission School totaled 5.G acres, but less than half the space 
was available for gardening. ^ 

Near the Irving M. Scott School many back yards are large and 
there is much vacant-lot space. In 12 blocks there are 9| acres of 
vacant lots, much of which might be used for gardening. Home 
gardening is being conducted at this school as a volunteer effort of 
the principal and teachers. By the aid of the principal, individual 
reports on back-yard-garden space were received from 75 children. 
Thirteen of these children had no garden space, while the average 
area for the other children was 3S1 square feet per child. 

Within walking distance of the Bernal School there are large open 
spaces of excellent garden land. As this land is now under culti- 



590 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 



vation, a rental would have to be paid for its use as a children's 
garden. In many homes near the school, back-yard gardens 20 by 
20 feet might be made, as the teachers report that 171 children have 
that much or more area. Small vacant lots could also be used as 
there are 35 in the 12 blocks near the school. 

Occupations of children {Table 202). — As in all the central dis- 
tricts of the city, the street trades form the occupation of children. 
A large percentage of the boys sell papers on the principal down- 
town streets. Of 3,291 boys who reported, 732 work after school and 
6G3 worked during the last vacation. The money earned was $1.58 
per week after school and $2.54 per week during vacation. The girls 
reporting numbered 3,253, of whom GO had employment, earning an 
average of $1.58 per week, and GG worked in vacation, earning an 
average of $2.G2 per week. The boys of the district work at home 
an average of six hours per week and the girls seven, and G48 boys 
and 724 girls receive some pay for the work they do in the home. 

Table 202. — Occupations of children, District No. V. 





Reporting. 


Children earning money outside home. 


Children working 
at home. 








Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 






& 


ft 




09 

ft 




ft 


2 • Is 


2 


I 




Schools. 






















O jh 


A 


fl * 


A 














gi 




to 

to 




§■ 


JH 


■s * 


fe 








"3 






IS 


"o 


£3 © 
•1 




1* 


p 

o> © 


ft£ 


s © 
S ft 

© ^ 

to © 

g s 


a! 








to 


1 


o 


Br 


BO 


e 

3? 


| 


HP 


© 

•2 












SH 


03 






u 


ea 


t- 


»- o 


a 






>> 








o 




® 




3 


p 


gt«a 


« 






o 


.fc) 




> 


53 


> 




> 


> 




3 


> * 






M 


a 


< 


< 


> 


< 


< 


< 


> 


< 


< 


fe 


«3 


^ 


Rincon 


7 


3 


?, 

























n 





] inoln 


160 


132 


58 


$2. 50 


42 


£2.53 


1 


SO. 75 







7 


21 


9 


9 




213 


189 


51 


1.90 


48 


3.76 


3 


.80 


6 


S3.i2 


5 


97 


11 


39 


Kthan A lien 


57 
171 



151 


29 
3? 


1.91 
1.10 


27 
9 


2.50 
1.50 



? 


'".50 








5 


7 
41 



5 





Ma rsl lal 1 


33 


Mission 


292 


248 


79 


2.52 


80 


4.25 


1 


.50 







5 


31 


7 


45 


Tatrick Henry 


103 


96 


12 


1.37 


10 


2.50 


3 


2.75 






6 


6 


7 


7 


Buona Vista 


48 


47 


10 


1.13 


6 


2.80 


1 


3.00 


j 


3.00 


5 


6 


4 


™ 


Daniel Webster 


98 


111 


15 


1.05 


1? 


1.75 


2 


3.00 


3 


3.18 


fi 


?8 


6 


45 




222 


233 


W 


1.52 


9S 


2.91 







? 


1.20 


7 


4t 


10 


18 




172 


172 


50 


1.74 


46 


2.14 


9 


2.90 


4 


4.45 


7 


47 


9 


46 


Hawthorne 


126 


94 


19 


1.35 


11 


1.44 


5 


1.00 


5 


1.00 


33 


6 


19 


Bryant 


148 


171 


?,?, 


1.06 


19 


2.50 







1 


4.50 


4 


49 


5 


47 


Horace Mann 


425 


4*8 


14? 


2.04 


148 


3.32 


19 


1.50 


15 


2.25 


6 


9? 


7 


208 


( olnmbia ( osmopolitan 


304 


429 


44 


1.70 


45 


2.66 


3 


1.67 


5 


3.28 


6 


38 


6 


69 


S af King 


91 


70 


10 


1.00 


10 


1.75 












5 


38 


5 


46 


I.atg t 


170 


146 


28 


1.29 


35 


1.84 


9 


.88 


8 


1.38 


9 


51 


10 


41 


Bcrual 


298 


278 


71 


2.17 


60 


3.70 


6 


2.05 


11 


2.95 


7 


67 


7 


ft 


Junipero Scrra 


186 


235 


30 


1.12 


27 


1.82 


3 


.75 


* 


1.10 


5 


21 


4 


35 






Total 


3,291 


3,253 


732 


1.58 


663 


2.54 


60 


1.58 


66 


2.62 


6 


648 


7 


7?4 







Economic value of gardening {Table 203). — The total enrollment 
of the schools of this district is 10,G35, of which number 140 leave 
school to become employed and 83 lose a part of the school year by 
going to fruit-picking camps. The majority of the pupils leaving 



SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 



591 



school to work do so because of family need, but loss of interest and 
retardation are also given as contributing causes. 

Table 203. — Economic chart, District No. V. 





Chil- 
dren in 
school 


Aver- 
age 
daily 
attend- 
ance. 


Annual 
vegeta- 
ble food 
cost for 
family 
of 5. 


Following the fruit. 


Children leaving 
school to work. 


Schools. 


Num- 
ber. 


Date of 
leaving 
school. 


Date of 

return to 

school. 


Num- 
ber. 


Cause. 




99 
461 
773 
111 
700 
644 
482 
220 
396 
865 
460 

409 
683 
936 
890 

330 
543 

822 
811 


73 
378 
620 

73 
625 
556 
409 
195 
362 
733 
415 

338 
624 
8S3 
816 

312 

483 

716 
750 


$75.00 
64.45 
59.00 
50.00 
69.57 
84.33 
38.00 
59.67 
55.00 
68.89 
55,-29 

71.25 
133.00 
71.20 
59.55 

63.00 
67.12 

60.00 
100.00 





11 




19 



3 










10 
4 

( "n 

11 

4 

2 


60 

6 





20 

5 
2 

16 















May 


September.. 


Do. 


Ethan Allen 


















Do. 


Patrick Henry 


July 


Oct. 15 


Do. 








Do. 











Irving M. Scott 

Hawthorne 


May 20 




Aug. 1 


Not interested 
in school; 
need. 

Need. 


Bryant 


19 




17 


June 1 


Sept. 15 








Columbia Cosmopoli- 
tan. 






Do 








Haight 


Close, of 


Oct. 1....... 

Second week, 
September. 

Last of Sep- 
tember. 


Do. 


Bernal 


school. 
6 do. 




Junipero Scrra 


8 


— 

do...... 


need; re- 
tardation. 


Total 


10,635 


9,361 


68.65 


83 


140 













1 A few. 



The average cost of vegetable foods for a family of five for one 
year was estimated by the teacher at $G8.G5. House rents in the dis- 
trict seemed to be relatively high and the use of the available vacant 
land in the production of vegetables might well supply needy 
families and keep children in school longer. 

Agricultural interests of the home that might become school- 
directed projects (Table 20Jf).—Oi the 6,544 children reporting from 
this district, 2,0G5 state that some kind of a garden is cared for at 
their homes. In many cases these gardens are only small flower 
plats, and in. some cases window boxes were counted as gardens. 
From answers to questions asked parents and teachers, it appears 
that a relatively small number of the children have garden plats of 
their own or have definite work in the home garden. The children 
also report the following animals kept in the homes, either as pets 
or for their economic value: Poultry at 729 homes, pigeons at 347 
homes, and rabbits at 447 homes. 



592 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FBAXCISCO. 



Table 204. — Agricultural interests of the home that might become school- 
directed projects — District No. V. 



Schools. 


Number of children reported. 


Number of children having — 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


Gardens. 


Poultry. 


Tigcons. 


Rabbits. 


Rincon 


7 
1G0 
213 

57 
171 
292 
103 

48 

98 
222 
172 
126 
148 
425 
304 

91 
170 
298 
ISO 


3 
132 
189 

151 
248 

96 

47 
111 
233 
172 

94 
171 
448 
429 

70 
146 
278 
235 


10 
292 
402 

57 
322 
540 
199 

95 
209 
455 
344 
220 
319 
873 
733 
161 
316 
576 
421 


4 

59 

104 

17 

81 

128 

73 

25 

79 

107 

125 

34 

141 

281 

245 

51 

121 

222 

168 




4 
20 

9 
17 
39 
40 

9 
32 
18 
49 
21 
42 
79 
108 
30 
26 
98 
88 



4 

15 

5 

11 

24 

27 

4 

6 

13 

26 

4 

17 
42 
42 
13 
18 
41 
35 


1 


Li ncol n 


10 


Fran klin 


20 


Ethan Allen 


6 


Marshall 


16 




24 


Patrick Henry 


20 


Buena Vista 


9 


Daniel Webster 


23 


Agassiz 


13 


Irving M. Scott. 


30 


Hawthorne 


8 


Bryan t 


14 


Horace Mann 


39 


Columbia Cosmopolitan 

Starr King 


66 
11 


Haiu'ht 


17 


Bernal 


68 


Junipero Scrra 


42 






Total 


3,291 


3,253 


6,544 


2,065 


729 


347 


447 







NOE VALLEY SECTION, DISTRICT NO. VI. 
Schools : Noe Valley, James Lick, Kate Kennedy, Fairmont, Edison. 

The five schools of Noe Valley are shut in by ridges in such a 
way that the district forms a little city by itself. The floor of the 
valley and ridge to the east and north are well covered with homes, 
but to the west and south there is much open hillside space. The 
soil of the district is heavier than that of other districts thus far 
considered and might easily be improved to make a very productive 
garden soil. 

Living conditions {Table 205). — The children reported numbered 
2,601, of whom G4G lived in apartments, flats, or tenements. The 
building lots are 25 by 100 or 25 by 120 feet, but as most of the 
homes are relatively small and built near the streets each home has 
a small back-yard garden space. In the case of families living in 
flats, it would be possible to find vacant lots for children's gardens; 
and, as most of the flat buildings are small, some have garden space 
on the lots. From the teachers' reports it seems that only 888 chil- 
dren have space for gardens 20 by 20 feet; but in all cases hillside 
gardens may be resorted to to supply space for all children. Some 
of the hillsides are too steep for gardening and undoubtedly very dry 
in summer, but other sections could be easily found which are desir- 
able and usable for a part of the year at least. 






SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 



593 



Table 205. — Living conditions, District No. VI. 



Schools. 


a 
2 

S3 
o 

r 


.3 - 

t:es 

£££ 
p c 2 

3 *j C3 


m 

J2 • 

fee"© 

•S'S 
ts'S 

2© 

©^ 

J 

53 


Number of children 
who could have gar 
den plats 20 by 20 
feet. 


A re there 
small va- 
ra nl lots for 
all children 
not having 
bark-yard - 
spate? 


Are there 
large plats 
for school 
gardens? 




No. 


Yes. 


No. 


Yes. 


Edison 


385 
341 
641 
332 
902 


150 
78 

114 
55 

249 


25 by 100 
25 by 120 
25 by 120 
25 by 110 
25 by 110 


120 
66 
240 
135 
327 


6 
3 
10 
3 
6 


1 
3 
2 
5 
11 


7 
3 
10 

5 


1 


Noe Valley 


3 


James Lick 


2 


Kate Kennedy 


5 


Fairmont 


13 






Total 


2,601 


646 




888 


28 


22 


28 


24 









Occupations of children {Table 206). — Because of the distance 
from the business section of the city the possibility of the children 
obtaining employment is not large. In the reports on occupations 
outside the home, the delivery of newspapers and work in local stores 
were the most frequent. Out of 1,304 boys, 227 reported that they 
had regular occupation after school, earning an average of $1.4G per 
week, and 239 worked during the last vacation, earning an average 
of $2.36 per week. Only 15 girls work often and 17 during vacation, 
earning an average of 91 cents per week after school and $2.5G in 
vacation. The boys work at home an average of 5.5 hours per week 
and the girls G.2. Some pay for home work was received by 255 
boys and 248 girls. 

Table 20G.— Occupations of children, District No. VI. 





Reporting. 


Children earning money outside home. 


Children working 
at home. 








Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 






m 




M 




''M 




M 


tn 


<D 


2; '. Is 














% 




JR 




$ 


SM 


a 


N a 


Schools . 












* 




* 




* 


a « 


^3 


£«*4 










a 




& 




a 




o 

Oh 


C u 


Im 


c u 












ft 




ft 




ft 




ft 


© •— 




fee. 










"o 


.a 
a 

c3 




g 

03 


"o 


.9 
S 




.g 


p 


2 *- 


■g-a 


ft* 




00 


00 


00 

«- 

s 


So 

2 

o 

> 


a 


2 

(9 


o 
oo 

2 


to 

a 
© 


a 
.2 

I 

C3 


1 

o 




>- 

3 




t-. 

a 

3 




tt 


O 


< 


< 


> 


< 


<j 


< 


> 


< 


< ° 


A 


< U 


'A 


Edison 


211 
152 

2X7 


174 
1*9 
354 


23 

7 

67 


$1.07 
1.50 
1.86 


28 

8 
62 


$2.24 
1.25 
3.83 


2 
2 
3 


$0.50 
.75 
1.75 



2 



$6.75 



4 
7 
5 


63 
21 
57 


4 

8 

7 


49 


Noe Valley 


5? 


James Lick 


84 


Kate Kennedy 


168 


104 


27 


LOS 


21 


1.47 


1 


.80 








6.5 


21 


6 


25 




486 


416 


103 


1.79 


120 


3.03 


7 


.74 


15 


4.36 


5 


93 


6 


74 






Total 


1,304 


1,297 


227 


1.46 


239 


2.36 


15 


.91 


17 


2.56 


5.5 


255 


6.2 


?48 







93S15— 17- 



-38 



594 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Economic value of gardening {Table 207). — The value of vegetable 
foods consumed by a family of five persons in one year, as estimated 
by the teachers of this district, is $75.22. By intensive gardening 
much of this vegetable food might be grown in the section. 

Five children are absent from school a part of the year "follow- 
ing the fruit," and about 20 leave school each year to go to work. 

Table 207. — Economic chart, District No. VI. 





Chil- 
dren in 
school. 


Aver- 
a?o 
daily 
attend- 
ance. 


Annual 
vege- 
table 
food 
cost, for 
family 
of five. 


Following the fruit. 


Children leaving 
school to work. 


Schools. 


Num- 
ber. 


Date of 
leaving 
school. 


Date of 

return to 

school. 


Num- 
ber. 


Cause. 


Edison 


70S 

743 

602 
1,121 


634 
712 

687 

63S 
1,034 


$87.50 
75.00 
68.88 

65.00 
79.74 




5 









6 

10 


4 




Noe Vallev 








James Lick 


C I o s e o f 
school. 


Aug. 23..... 




Kate Kennedy 




Fairmont 






Do. 










Total 


4,078 


3,705 


75.22 


5 






20 













Agricultural interests of the home that might become school-di- 
rected projects {Table 20S).— That there is a good possibility for home 
gardening in this district is shown by the fact that 1,000 of the 2,G01 
children reporting state that a garden is cultivated at their homes. 
Poultry is kept at 382 homes, pigeons at 181, and rabbits at 222. 

Table 20S. — Agricultural interests of the home that might become school- 
directed projects — District No. VI. 



Schools. 


Number of children reported. 


Number of children having— 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


Gardens. 


Poultry. 


Pigeons. 


Rabbits. 


Ed ison 


211 
152 

287 
168 
486 


174 

189 
354 
164 
416 


385 
341 
641 
332 
902 


130 
1S2 
237 
131 
320 


44 
50 
89 
46 
153 


18 
19 
50 
30 
64 


25 


Noe Vallev 


23 


James Lick ; ......... 


60 


Kate Kennedy 


33 


Fairmont 


81 


Total.... 




1,304 


1,297 2.fi01 


1,000 


382 


181 


222 











SOUTH SECTION, DISTKICT NO. VII. 



Schools : Karragut, Sunnyside, Longfellow, Glenn Tark, Munroe, Cleveland, Visitation 
Valley, Portola, Harrison, Bay View, and Burnett. 

The south district contains all land area from the boundary of 
Districts Ncs. 5 and G to the county line. In this territory there are 
many large open spaces. In the lowlands the soil is an excellent black 
loam and much of this land is being used for gardens, chiefly by 
Italian vegetable gardeners. As a whole, this district offers the 



SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 



595 



greatest possibility for profitable children's gardening, although it 
will be more difficult to market the surplus above the needs of the 
home than in any other part of the city. 

Living conditions {Table 200). — As would be expected from the 
general aspect of the district, a smaller percentage of children live 
in apartments, tenements, and flats, only 233 of the 4,3G4 living under 
such conditions. In anticipation of the building up of the section, 
however, all lot plans have been laid cut in 25-foot lots. About half 
of the children can have back-yard gardens 20 by 20 feet or larger. 
In a study of the possibilities for home gardening at the homes of 
36 children of the Bay View School, it w T as found that 2 had no 
space for gardening, 4 had less than 100 square feet, while all others 
had 250 or more square feet. The average number of square feet per 
child is 1,109. The majority of the teachers state that it would be 
possible to find all the land needed for profitable gardens for all 
children. 

Table 209. — Living conditions, District No. VII. 



School 



Sheridan 

Farragut 

Sunnyside , 

Longfellow 

Glenn Park 

Monroe 

Cleveland 

Visitation Valley 

Portola , 

Harrison 

Bay View.... 

Burnett , 

Total 



Chil- 
dren 
re- 
ported 



387 
283 
128 
241 
526 
732 
307 
213 
613 
87 
575 
272 



4,364 



Number 
living 
in flats, 
tene- 
ments, 

and 
apart- 
ments. 



233 



Size of 

building 

lots in the 

district. 



25 by 125.. 
25 by 137*. 

25 by 100.. 
25 by 125.. 
25 by 120.. 
25 by 125.. 
25 by 100.. 
25 by 100.. 
25 by 100.. 
25 by 100.. 
25 bv 100.. 
25 by 100.. 



Number 
of chil- 
dren who 
could 
have 
garden 
plats 
20 by 20 
feet. 



184 
164 

44 
147 
278 
348 
144 
114 
280 

62 
301 

87 



Are there 

small 

vacation 

lots for all 

children 

not having 

back-yard 

space? 



No. Yes. 



2,153 



16 



12 



Are there 

large plats 

for school 

gardens? 



No. Yes. 



75 I 17 

I 



12 



Occupations of the children (Table 210). — Of 2,1G4 boys reporting 
323 have employment after school from which money is earned, and 
333 work during vacation. The average earnings of these boys is 
$1.80 and $2.40, respectively. Only 43 girls have money-earning 
employment after school and 47 during vacation. Considering the 
greater opportunity for employment in the homes of this more open 
district, it is rather surprising that both boys and girls are employed 
with home duties only an average of 7 hours per week. 



596 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 



Table 210. — Occupations of children, District A 


o. T7/. 














Children earning money outside home. 


Children working 
at home. 




Reporting. 






















Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


School. 








o 




M 

o 

o 




© 
© 




■a 


I- 

f § 


3 

o 


en 

3 . 

^ © 


a 

o 
.a 










© 

a. 




a 




© 




p. 


O P 


5 


db 


% 








o 

■8 


a 

'3 

a 

© 

a 


R 

o 


8> 

P 

s 

a 


o 
o 

J3 
o 


a 

'3 

e3 
o 

a 


c 
o 


m 

So 

a 

a 

o 


it 

3 © 
a -~ 

© © 


8.? 

9 


la 
p 

3 P 

a i «e 


a -a 

© 




CO 






?, 




a 


h 


fi 




03 


kifc 


a 


2* 


F| 




o 


>_ 




2 


§ 


© 




© 


C3 


> 


©fl 


3 


©J= 


3 




n 


O 


< 


< 


> 


< 


< 


<< 


^* 


<5 


<4 


>5 


<J 


«*i 


Sheridan 


193 

138 

66 

127 

273 


194 
145 
62 
114 

253 


33 

31 

9 

32 

42 


$1.73 
1.75 
1.65 

1.78 
1.64 


44 

48 
4 

16 
45 


$2. 55 
3.30 
2.25 
2.85 
2.62 


5 

7 

4 
4 


$1.00 

1.00 



1.50 

.50 


11 

13 

4 
3 


$2.20 

1.33 



2.00 

.50 


9 
6 

7 
7 
7 


39 

25 

9 

42 

69 


8 

7 
7 
7 
8 


49 


Farragu t 


*n 


Sunnvside 


7 


Longfellow 


16 


Glenn Park 


64 


Monroe 


362 
171 


370 
135 


31 
18 


1.68 
1.60 


47 
8 


2.23 
2.31 


5 
4 


1.25 
1.13 


4 
2 


1.50 
1.55 


6 
5 


74 
46 


7 
6J 


74 


Cleveland 


?a 


Visitat ion Valley 


92 


121 


19 


2.00 


19 


2.00 


1 


.50 


4 


1.00 


6 


24 


7 


19 


Portola 


290 


323 


32 


2.06 


3? 


2.17 


?, 


.85 


2 


1.50 


fi 


61 


S 


46 


Harrison 


53 
273 
126 


34 
3)2 
146 


1 

66 
6 


3.00 
1.74 
1.00 



61 
9 



2.59 
1.58 




9 
2 




1.30 

.65 



3 
1 



1.00 
1.00 


12J 

7 
7* 



59 
49 


? 4 

8 


f> 


Bay View 


■S5 


Burnett 


50 






Total 


2,164 


2,200 


323 


1.80 


333 


2.40 


43 


.97 


47 


1.36 


7 


497 


7 


441 







Economic value of gardening (Table 211). — The teachers of this 
district estimate that it costs a family of five persons an average of 
$57.29 for vegetables for one year. Thirty-nine children are absent 
from school a part of the year because they are away from the city 
" following the fruit." Seventy-eight children left school last year 
to go to work. In all cases family need is given as the cause of 



leaving school. 



Table 211. — Economic chart. District No. VII. 





Chil- 
dren in 
school. 


Aver- 
age 
daily 
attend- 
ance. 


Annual 
cost of 


Following the fruit. 


Children leaving 
school to work. 


Schools. 


hie 

foods 

for a 

family 

of Ave. 


Num- 
ber. 


Date of 
leaving 
school. 


Date of 

return to 

school. 


Num- 
ber. 


Cause. 


Sheridan 


584 

449 

226 
371 

' 729 

1, 156 
561 

367 

859 

195 
720 

500 


530 

401 
210 
342 
656 

1,065 
500 

332 

802 

185 
672 

450 


$54.28 

40.00 
51.00 
69.83 
69.00 

52.29 
37.67 

47.66 

66.00 

" 78*50" 
64.00 


10 







10 



10 

5 

4 




Close of 
school. 


Oct. 1 


15 

10 

1 

6 

24 


Need. 




Do. 








Do. 








Do. 








Need; non- 








promotion. 




Close of 
school. 

During sum- 
mer vaca- 
tion. 

Close of 
school. 

May20 

Close of 
school. 


Sept. 1 


2 
10 

10 


Very 
few. 


Need. 


Visitation Valley 

Portola 


Do. 


Sept. 10 

Ansr. 20 

Sept. 15 


To earn 




money. 




















Total 


6,717 


6, 145 


57.29 


39 


78 















SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 



597 



Agricultural interests of the home that might become school- 
directed projects {Table 212). — The reports of 4,364: children show 
that 1,G18 of the homes have some kind of a garden. Poultry is kept 
at 1,157 homes, rabbits at 3GG, and pigeons at 807e If the parents of 
this district could be induced to turn over garden tracts or the care 
of animals to the children, it would be possible to work out home 
projects for many children. 

Table 212. — Agricultural interests of the home thai might become school- 
directed projects, District No. VII. 



Schools. 


Children reported. 


Number of children having— 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


Gardens. 


Poultry. 


Pigeons. 


Rabbits. 


Sheridan 


193 
138 

66 
127 
273 
302 
171 
.92 
290 

53 
273 
126 


194 
145 

62 
114 
253 
370 
136 
121 
323 

34 
302 
146 


387 
283 
128 
241 
526 
732 
307 
213 
613 
87 
575 
272 


124 
96 
58 
124 
152 
357 
107 
102 
149 


83 

74 

42 

73 

122 

227 

83 

76 

108 


24 
15 
11 
34 
41 
56 
23 
15 
48 
3 
51 
42 


59 


Farragut 


88 


Sunn vside 


21 


Longfellow 


58 


Glenn Park 


71 




136 


Cleveland 


55 


V isilation Valley 


54 


I'orlola 


109 


1J arrison 


5 27 
219 135 


20 




86 


Burnett 


125 


107 


50 






Total 


2,16-1 


2,200 


4,364 


1,618 


1,157 


366 


807 







THE JUVENILE COURT. 

As without doubt the inability of city children to find employment 
for their time in the right kind of occupations and the employment 
of many in undesirable occupations are contributing influences to 
juvenile delinquency, the following facts are here reproduced from 
the report of the Juvenile Court of San Francisco for the year 1915 : 

OAN FRANCISCO JUVENILE COURT, REPORT OF PROBATION OFFICER FOR THE YEAR 1915,. 



During the year 1915, 833 children were brought to the attention 
of this court either because of the inability of their parents to prop- 
erly care for them, this through poverty, intemperance, immorality, 
or other cause, or by reason of the death of one or both parents and 
the lack of proper guardian and means of support. 

The following table shows the number of children brought before 
the court for such causes : 

Table 213a. — Number of children brought before court for certain causes. 

Children. 

Cruelty of parents 41 

Neglect of parents 195 

Destitution of parents . . 171 

Drink on part of parents 150 



598 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FBANCISCO. 

Children. 

Depravity of parents . §0 

Desertion of parents 140 

Death of parents .. . _ 56 

Total 833 

During the year GG8 boys and 273 girls came before the court be- 
cause of certain delinquent acts committed by them through the vio- 
lation of city ordinances or the penal code, or because of immorality 
and other causes. 

The number of children brought before the court for such causes 
is shown by the following table : 

Table 213b. — Boys and girls drought before court for certain causes. 

t i Boys. Girls. 

I Assault 40 

Burglary . 81 1 

Larceny 159 5 

Gang activity 22 

Incorrigibility 69 83 

Vagrancy 33 

Mischief 57 

Violation of city ordinance 91 

Sex immorality— 20 140 

Other causes :~— — 9G 44 

Totals 668 273 

A third group is made up of those who, previously before the court, 
again appeared because of the need of admonishing either the 
parents or the children themselves for their lack of progress. 

This group comprises 121 boys and 29 girls; total, 150. 

STREET TRADES. 

Valuable facts in regard to the juvenile street trades of San Fran- 
cisco have been collected by the Juvenile Protective Association. Be- 
cause it has been found in the foregoing district studies that so many 
schoolboys are engaged in selling newspapers, the following ab- 
stracts of findings and recommendations of this association have a 
direct bearing on the educative and noneducative influences of street 
trades on schoolboys: 

A table compiled for us from San Francisco Juvenile Court records by a 
student at the University of California shows that 59.5 per cent of the boys 
brought to court because of street trades were newsboys; 52.84 per cent of the 
boys brought to court who had street trades in their previous history were 
newsboys; and 53.19 per cent of the boys who went into street trades after 
they were delinquent were newsboys. 

Recommendations.— We have pointed out the evil environment of the street 
and its degenerating influence on young boys. We hope that it will lead to a 



SCHOOL-DIKECTED GARDENING. 599 

more extensive investigation and to serious consideration of the obvious neces- 
sity of raising the age limit to 14 years. 

We recommend a city ordinance which shall establish the office of super- 
visor of street trades, having as his sole and only duty the regulation of 
street trades. He should cooperate with' the truant officer to secure regular 
attendance and good standing of the boys at school. 

We recommend an effective licensing system in order to secure a legitimate 
class of newsboys. Each boy must have a permit and wear a badge. Before 
issuing the permit, the supervisor of street trades should obtain full information 
regarding the boy. 

FOLLOWING TIIE FRUIT. 

The phrase " following the fruit " has a significance in California 
which it could not have in any other part of the United States. Be- 
cause of the variations in climate and horticultural products, it is 
always " picking time " in some part of the State. As the harvest 
season in any locality is comparatively short, the pickers, usually 
whole families, move north or south following the ripening fruit. 
In several localities the press of work in fruit picking and packing 
time is so great that both country and city school vacations are 
arranged so that the children may help. At San Jose the vacation 
period covers the prune-picking time. 

The school authorities in San Francisco have been annoyed by 
having children from certain schools leave in large numbers about 
March 1 to go to fruit-picking camps. Very often these children do 
not return to school until the middle of October or the first of Novem- 
ber, and thus they become very much retarded. Several years ago an 
investigation was made by the superintendent's office as to the number 
of children who left school to " follow the fruit," with a view to 
changing the time of the vacation, but when compared to the total 
enrollment the number was so insignificant that no change was made. 

From the answer of principals to the question, " How many chil- 
dren leave before the close of the school year to go to fruit-picking 
camps? " it was found that last j T ear approximately 246 left school 
early or returned late because of " following the fruit." In most 
cases the children are accompanied by one or both parents. The 
families move to camps provided by the fruit ranches and when the 
picking season is at its height a little village is formed. As the fruit 
gathering season is short in most sections, this camp site is soon 
abandoned and the families move to a new field after a few weeks. 

The moral and sanitary conditions of the fruit camps are often 
bad. The children who engage in fruit picking usually come from 
homes where there is little real home training and run wild under 
the new freedom. As one girl said, "I like it better in the fruit 
camp because there ain't no cop to watch us all the time." The 
frequent change from camp to camp also has a tendency to form 



600 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 



roving habits. In a State report on fruit-camp conditions, it was 
shown that a large percentage were insanitary. 

The influence of "following the fruit" on the life of the child 
during the part of the year spent in school in the city is often marked. 
Most of these children are very much retarded and lose interest in 
school, and then, having no definite interest, become vicious. In most 
cities the number of juvenile court offenses increases in vacation, but 
in San Francisco there are about the same or even a smaller number, 
the cause for which is attributed by the assistant probation officer to 
the large number of " worst children " being at fruit camps. 

The Juvenile Protective Association of San Francisco has been 
engaged in studying the evils of life in fruit-picking camps. The 
following figures on retardation of children from the "Washington 
Irving School who pick fruit, furnished by Mrs. Bert Schlessinger, 
former president of the association, show conclusively one of the evil 
effects. 

REPOKT FEOM THE WASHINGTON DSVINO SCHOOL. 

In the Washington Irving School the compulsory educational law 
is being violated. Pupils are retarded from 3 to 5 years. One week 
ago (Feb. 20, 191G) the following left to cut asparagus, to return 
some time in October ; of foreign birth— school very necessary : 

Table 214. — Pupils leaving school. 



Age. 


Crade. 


Retarda- 
tion. 


Age. 


Grade. 


Retarda- 
tion. 


12 


4 
3 
3 
3 
3 
4 
1 
3 
3 

1 
1 
3 
2 
3 
3 
5 
5 

2 
5 
5 
3 


3 
3 

4 
4 
4 
3 
4 
5 
3 
2 
1 
1 
4 
1 
3 
5 
3 
4 
2 
4 
2 
2 
4 


8 


1 
3 
3 
1 
3 
3 
3 
4 
1 
1 
1 
3 
1 
1 
3 

2 
2 

2 
1 
4 
1 


1 


11 


12 


4 


12 


11 


3 


11 „ 


7 


1 


12 


12 


•4 


12 


11........... 


3 


10 


15 


6 


13 


12...... 


3 


11...... 


8 


2 


8.. ............. ...... 


8 


2 


11.. .... 


8 


2 


7..,...., ..... 


14 


5 


12 .-. .V 


8 


2 


£.. .i... iiiii '. 


8 


2 


11.. 


13 


5 


13. 


7 


1 


14 


10 


3 


15. ......... ... . . .- 


12 


5 


8 


9 


2 


12.,,... 


7 


1 


14 


12.... 


3 


14....... 


10 . 


4 


12 











All of the above evils of "following the fruit" and more are 
undoubtedly real. The children who go to the camps are nearly all 
from schools in the congested sections of the city, and in the home 
environments undoubtedly encounter all the vices. A child must 
have some interest and employment or all his time will be spent in 



SCHOOL-DIKECTED GAEDEXIXG. G01 

occupations that are not suited to his development. At home in the 
city, about the only employment open to the child is in the street 
trades, and the Juvenile Protective Association has condemned these 
even more strongly than it has " following the fruit." Under the 
present insanitary and immoral conditions of the camp, the child 
has an out-of-door life and regular employment and surroundings 
which are little, if any, worse than those of the city slums. 

Under the right direction and conditions, fruit picking might be 
made healthful, educative, and lucrative to the children. Fortu- 
nately, the experiment has been tried by the Boys' and Girls' Aid 
Society and has met with marked success. The work of the wards 
of this society has been well described by «the superintendent for 
the society, in his 41st annual report. 

CAMP PEBKINS. 

We moved to Camp Perkins on the 5th of June with 125 boys, traveling in 
special cars on the Northwestern Pacific Railway to Sebastopol and the Peta- 
lnma & Santa Rosa Electric Railway from Sebastopol to Barlow, where we 
found the work of the advance party, under Mr. Welch's direction, well per- 
formed and a very complete and perfect camp awaiting us. 

Unusual precautions had been taken to make the camp sanitary and health- 
ful. The kitchen and all toilets were carefully screened against flies; a new 
hospital, consisting largely of screening, erected; and covered garbage cans 
installed. 

During the summer, when the work permitted, all of the tent platforms under 
the boys' sleeping tents were raised from the ground from 18 inches to 3 feet, 
affording ventilation beneath and making them more healthful. 

Here we spend a little over three months picking berries — loganberries, 
mammoth blackberries, and Lawton blackberries — over 77,000 trays of them, 
nearly 200 tons — and last year was an off year, with a light crop. The sum- 
mer's earnings amounted to $3,895. This large sum was distributed among 
about 180 boys, according to their individual ability at picking. For each day 
every boy is credited with the exact number of trays picked and is paid what 
he earns, less. 12 £ cents per day charged for camp expenses. This does not 
pay the expense of maintaining the camp, only part of the expense, but it does 
serve to teach the boys that part of each day's earning must be used toward 
their own support. 

On our return from camp the accounts are closed and each boy may spend 
his earnings as he desires, part being kept in reserve for future use. All of 
the boys invest in suits of clothing for Sundays and special occasions, shoes, 
hats, linen, and neckwear; many have dentistry done; and a large number 
subscribe for magazines, which are a continued source of pleasure and profit. 

Every boy retains part of his earnings, leaving it to his credit, to be drawn 
on for carfare and spending money on Sundays. This double process of earning 
money at piecework of a nature especially adapted to boys, as the berry- 
picking is, and of expending the money earned, is of great moral and educa- 
tional value, teaching the value of money and demonstrating to a boy how 
much easier and more desirable it is to earn one's money by honest labor than 
to acquire it by crooked means. 



602 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

The economic side of camp life would more than justify its continuance, for, 
in addition to the benefit to the boys, the help afforded the berry grower is in- 
valuable. We are unable to furnish pickers for all the growers who apply, 
though this summer we had an enlarged camp and the largest enrollment in 
the history of the work, 1GS boys being the high-water mark. This taxed the 
capacity of our kitchen to the utmost, but Mrs. Skinner was equal to the task 
and kept the boys well fed. To do this required large supplies of provisions 
daily and our bills were heavy. About 8,000 loaves of bread were consumed 
each month at the rate of 250 per day, and 20 gallons of rich, pure milk were 
used, for country air and outdoor w r ork sharpen the appetite of all. 

Recreation. — However, work is not the only activity at camp, for a part of 
every day is reserved for recreation, and during June every evening was spent 
in training for the Fourth of July. The gymnasium suits were donned by 
those who expected to compete in the athletic events on the Fourth, and the 
evening was spent in running and jumping. 

But the Fourth was not the only special day, for on August 8 the boys were 
the guests of the directors of the Gravenstein Apple Show in Sebastopol, which 
was thrown open to them. After the show had been carefully inspected, many 
of the concessions were opened to them and greatly enjoyed by all. 

Saturdays were reserved for recreation, and many a good baseball game was 
played on our diamond between the several nines, with an occasional game 
with an outside nine. 

But the swimming hole was by all odds the most popular place at camp, and 
to it the squads or working parties wended their way at the conclusion of the 
day's picking as often as possible, and always on Sundays for the weekly bath. 

Many boys learn to swim during each summer, for the pool is admirably 
adapted for the purpose, sloping gently down to where the water is 7 feet deep, 
and good diving. 

The recreation side of the camp life is valuable and makes better boys of all. 

Another valuable feature is the opportuniay for a measure of self-government 
which is granted the boys.. Each squad of boys elects its own captain and 
lieutenant, who have charge, under the overseer, and help in moving the squad 
to and from work and in the berry patch, and each company has its own 
captain, who has charge of the tent and assists the night watchman to main- 
tain good order. 

A mayor, clerk, and sheriff complete the boys' organization, in addition to 
the semimilitary organization which prevails. From reveille in the morning 
to taps at night all is done by bugle call, and the beautiful flags floating 
from the tents and large flagstaff add to the military effect. 

Sunday is a day of rest and after the bathing is attended to is devoted to 
music, reading, letter writing, and a religious service in the early evening. 
Many come from the neighborhood to enjoy the boys' spirited singing and 
to listen to addresses by the Rev. William Rogers, who for 10 years has given 
up his Sunday evenings to conducting this service and has won the love and 
good will of all the boys by his kindly but forceful pleas for clean, upright, 
and godly lives. 

Early in September the berries were harvested and on the 10th we returned 
to San Francisco, a sunburned, healthy, and happy bunch of boys, after our 
twelfth annual camp on Mrs. Barlow's ranch. A pleasant trip to San Fran- 
cisco and the home and the Monday following found all of the boys at their 
desks in the schoolroom, ready to study and improve their minds, filled with 
renewed zest and earnestness after their three months' outing. 



SCHOOL-DIKECTED GARDENING. 603 

From every standpoint the berry picking camp of the Boys' and 
Girls' Aid Society seems to have been a success. Very often in our 
educational work we have discovered the most valuable projects for 
our abnormal and delinquent children. At the other extreme the 
many boys' and girls' camps of the northern part of the United 
States are filled with children each summer. Wealthy men feel that 
the training their children receive from 10 weeks of directed camp 
life is worth from $150 to $250. In San Francisco there are over 
11,000 boys and 14,000 girls who have no definite employment dur- 
ing the summer. Child labor laws have taken away from city 
children many employments which were harmful to them, but some- 
thing must be found to take the place of these activities. Modern 
city education must supply occupations which are educative and 
productive. 

If " following the fruit " can be made educative and productive 
for delinquent children, might not it be much more so when normal 
boys and girls engage in it under the right direction? 

From January 1, 1915, to January 1, 1916, the county of San 
Francisco spent $177,907.54 for the care of juvenile court children 
by agencies and institutions. The boys of the Boys' and Girls' Aid 
Society earned $3,895 in one summer and returned to the city 
stronger mentally, morally, and physically. In Districts Nos. 1, 4, 
and 5, where gardening and other educative and productive occupa- 
tions are almost prohibitive because of the lack of land, the experi- 
ment of vacation fruit picking merits trial. This work should be 
under the direction of a teacher who can lead the children not only 
in the routine of fruit picking, but also in a love of country life 
and the vocational study of growing of the fruit. A large part of 
the cost of this work might be paid for out of the earnings of the 
children. This is an educational problem of San Francisco that 
needs much further study to determine the time of year that the 
picking must be done, the extent of the field, the number of children 
who need such training most, and the cost of such a project to the 
school department. 

POSSIBLE PLAN FOE SCHOOL-DIRECTED " FOLLOWING THE FBUIT." 

The following suggestive outline of the cost of taking 20 boys to 
fruit-picking camps has been prepared in order to show the pos- 
sibilities in a concrete way. Twenty children have been selected 
as the unit for one person to instruct, as that number is often cared 
for by a single boys' camp leader. The money received by each 
child for the summer's work is small, but returns in health and 
education would be large as compared to spending a summer in the 
"North Beach Section." An increase in the amount of berries 



604 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FBANCISCO. 

picked would increase the profit and it is possible that the cost 
of the camp, as given below, might be decreased. 

Cost and earnings sheet for 20 boys following fruit. 

Cost. 

Teacher 3 months (90 days), at $100 per month $300 

Pood cost of 20 boys, 1 teacher, 1 cook, at 20 cents per day 396 

Car fare to camp 1 and return, 22 people 44 

Salary of cook 90 

Total 830 

Earnings of 20 boys, at 75 cents a day, for 70 days 1, 050 

IRRIGATION OF GARDENS. 

During a part of the year it is impossible to produce many vege- 
table crops successfully in San Francisco without irrigation. Ac- 
cording to Bill No. 3GG5, Ordinance No. 334G, Section 5 (new series), 
etc., irrigation for private gardens and private grounds costs $0.00575 
per square yard; no monthly charge to be less than 17 cents. 

Information obtained at the city water department indicates that 
when the flat rate charge is made up for a dwelling, the above pre- 
vailing rate per square yard is charged whether the lot is bare sand, 
lawn, or garden. A home owner who does not cultivate his lot is 
therefore paying for water from which he derives no benefit. 

A plan for the use of water to irrigate vacant lots used for garden- 
ing, now being contemplated by another west coast city, might well 
be copied by San Francisco. By this plan to foster the use of vacant 
lots for the growing of vegetables and flowers, anyone securing per- 
mission from the owner to use a vacant lot for gardening may apply 
to the city water department to have a water line laid to the 
property. The cost of installing the line is made against the owner 
of the property and carried by the city without interest until a build- 
ing is to be erected, at which time the regular charge is collected. 
By this plan the water department is enabled to keep a uniform 
working force, water lines to property on which buildings are being 
built having priority, and any extra time is given to vacant lots in 
the order that requests are received. 

Horticulture products and farm area of San Francisco County and 
10 near-by counties '(Tables 215 and 216). — A study of the census 
figures on the horticultural products and size of farms in the coun- 
ties near San Francisco was made in order to determine the possi- 
bilities of vocational direction by prevocational training in garden- 
ing. In the counties nearest the city the number of small farms is 

1 Camp equipment to be furnished by grower or to become permanent equipment of 
school department. 



SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 



605 



largest. To state that a county produces large quantities of vege- 
tables or small fruits is almost equivalent to stating that there are 
many small farms. There are a few large farms growing small 
fruits, but in most cases the demands of cultivation and the high 
money value per unit area require that each grower confine his 
efforts to a small acreage. 



Table 215. — Horticultural products of San Francisco and near-by counties. 



Counties. 



San Francisco 

Alameda 

Contra Costa., 

Marin 

Sonoma 

Napa 

Solano 

Sacramento. . . 
San Joaquin.. 
Santa Clara... 
San Mateo 



Vege- 
tables. 



Acres. 

466 

7,459 

3,050 

117 

954 

428 

050 

6,307 

6,728 

4,241 

3,210 



Pota- 
toes. 



Acres. 

87 

1,655 

12,687 

435 

2,279 

530 

311 

1,406 

21,313 

1,085 

971 



Orchard 
fruits. 



Trees. 

1,105 

627,824 

225, 939 

32,208 

1,364,105 

497,391 

1,357,911 

506,961 

364,290 

5,043,7C0 

43,655 



Tropi- 
cal 
fruits. 



Trees. 

15,900 
10,597 
3S7 
20,226 
23,251 

8,911 
84,863 
26.070 
28,023 

7,249 



Grape- 
vines. 



Number. 

3,000 

2,390,959 

2,972, 13U 

115, 19X 

17,939,972 

8,503,338 

1,213,265 

7,(27,510 

13,371,794 

5, 584,4 SO 

124,990 



Small 
fruits. 



Acres. 



401 

6 

3 

1,471 

59 

12 

554 

92 

1,011 

09 



Nuts. 



Trees. 



25,250 

215,249 

212 

10,631 

2,768 

100,239 

67, 156 

99,499 

48,398 

331 



Table 21G. — Size of farms in San Francisco and near-by counties. 



Counties. 


Per cent 
under 3 
acres. 


Ter cent 
3 to 9 
acres. 


Percent 
9 to 19 
acres. 


Total. 


San Francisco 


43.9 

6.1 

1.2 

1.2 

.9 

.9 

.5 

.7 

.2 

1.4 

6.9 


38.2 

24.3 

8.0 

7.0 

19.0 

9.0 

3.7 

10.4 

6.2 

16.3 

12.1 


7.0 
16.6 

8.0 
10.0 
18.0 
14.0 

5.2 
14.8 
16.1 
25.0 

8.0 


89.1 


Alameda 


47.0 


Contra Costa „ 


17.0 


Marin 


18.0 


Sonoma 


37.9 


Napa 


23.9 


Solano 


9.4 


Sacramento 


25.9 


San Joaquin , 


22.5 


Santa Clara 


42.7 


San Mateo 


27.0 







In San Francisco County 43.9 per cent of the farms are under 3 
acres in size and 82.1 per cent under 10 acres. In Alameda County, 
which produces many vegetables, 30.4 per cent of the farms are less 
than 10 acres in extent and over one-third of the area of Sonoma 
County, which produces much small fruit, is divided into farms of 
less than 20 acres. 

In order to be successful the owners of these small farms must 
practice intensive methods of crop production. Through the use of 
the small back yard and vacant lot garden many children may be 
taught these intensive methods which later may be instrumental in 
the choice of gardening as a vocation. 



SHOULD THE CITY TRAIN HER YOUTHS IN AGRICULTURE 5 

The location of San Francisco, directly across the bay from the 
University of California, with its strong agricultural college, should 



606 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



make easy the giving of agricultural courses in the city school sys- 
tem. Many of the boys from the city now attend the college of agri- 
culture, whose work would be strengthened by prevocational courses 
in gardening in the grades and vocational courses in the high school. 
Were such courses given, many more city boys would, without doubt, 
select agriculture for their life work and receive advanced training 
at Berkeley. 

The following statistics collected by Prof. B. H. Cocheron show 
that more than half of the students registered in the college of agri- 
culture in April, 1915, came from the city and had had little or no 
previous agricultural experience : 

Question I : Were yon brought up on a farm or ranch. 



Classes. 


Brought up on 
farm. 


Not brought up on 
farm.' 


- 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Percent. 


Freshmen 


50 
46 
29 
42 
21 


42.0 

43.8 
30.7 
40.1 
45.6 


69 
59 
63 
49 
25 


58.0 




56.1 




69.2 




53.8 




54.3 






Total 


188 


41.3 


265 


58. & 







Question II: Did yon come to the university from a home situated on a farm 

or ranch, 



Classes. 


From farms. 


Not from farms. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Freshmen 


38 
32 
27 
30 
19 


31.9 
30.4 
29.6 
32.9 
41.3 


81 
73 
64 
61 

27 


68.1 


Sophomores 


69.5 


Juniors 


70.3 


Seniors „ „ 


67.0 


Graduates and specials 


58.7 






Total.. 


146 


32.3 


306 


67. ft 







Question III : How many years or months of actual full day's tvork have you 

ever done? 

Averages. 

Freshmen__ 11 months and 14 days of farm work. 

Sophomores 1 year, 4 months, and 18 days. 

Juniors : 1 year, G months, and 3 days. 

Seniors . 2 years, 2 months, and 13 days. 

Graduates and specials 2 years, 10 months, and 8 days. 

Entire registration 1 year, 7 months, and 2 days. 

As might have been expected, the length of work increases with the progres- 
sion of the classes, but unexpectedly increases faster than the amount of time 
out of school for vacations would permit. This has been caused by students 



SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 607 

who drop out of school for a year or more and by students with whom time 
magnifies the amount of worl\ they have done. 

There are 75 students in the college who state they have never done a full 
day's farm work in their lives. Of these 5 are graduates, 8 seniors, 12 juniors,. 
19 sophomores, and 23 freshmen. 

TEACHER TRAINING. 

When gardening is put on a strong financial basis in San Fran- 
cisco, its permanent success will depend on the teaching force. The 
experience of city school -garden supervisors of the country seems to 
prove that the best results can be obtained for the least expenditure 
of money by training the regular grade teachers or by appointing 
grade teachers who have had garden-teaching experience elsewhere. 

In reply to the question, " Have you a teacher trained to do the 
garden work?" 13 principals answer "Yes" and G7 "No." While 
the field work of the survey was in progress most of the teachers 
whom the principals consider trained to do garden teaching were 
interviewed. Some of these teachers had taken theoretical courses 
in agriculture at the University of California and had also had much 
practical experience. All of the teachers were enthusiastic and all 
had received some special training for garden teaching. The teach- 
ers were uncertain as to the best methods of applying agricultural 
knowledge to the teaching of city children, but all would welcome 
supervision and direction from a trained leader of garden work. 

The garden department should grow gradually from a small begin- 
ning to a department that reaches every child of garden age in the 
whole city. Thirteen teachers make a good nucleus from which to 
start, but these teachers will wish to continue their training, and 
other teachers must become prepared to take up and extend the work 
each year. Teachers who wish to become garden specialists should 
attend all conferences and classes held by the supervisor of garden- 
ing. They should be assigned to practice teaching under the direc- 
tion of experienced teachers who are also in service as school and 
home-garden teachers. 

Another source of practical garden information is the Italian 
gardener. Because of the high price of land and demands of the 
local markets, these gardeners must make every square foot of land 
yield its utmost. By observation of the Italian methods, time of 
planting, and succession of crops garden teachers may obtain much 
practical information. 

Because of the near-by location of the University of California, 
with its agricultural department and many agricultural courses, 
teachers in San Francisco have unusual opportunities for agricul- 
tural training. Courses 100A, 100B : 101, 102, and 104 are of special 
value to city teachers of gardening. 



608 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

VALUE OF SCHOOL-DIEECTED HOME GARDENING TO SAN FRANCISCO 

CHILDREN. 

Economic. — Eeports were received from 7,015 children (Table 218) 
who could have home garden plats or 400 square feet or more. With- 
out doubt many more children could be supplied with space on vacant 
lots. If only the 7,915 children were taught to make gardens, how- 
ever, and each child grew 10 cents worth of vegetables 1 per square 
foot, a total value of $310,000 would be produced on waste land by 
the now wasted time of the children. As one teacher is able to direct 
the garden work of about 150 children, 53 trained teachers would be 
needed to work after school, on Saturday, and during the summer 
vacation. An additional salary of about $250 would probably be 
sufficient for the extra work of each of these teachers, or a total 
cost to the school department of $13,250. 

From a purely financial standpoint, an expenditure of $13,250 
for a return of $31G,000 should be good business. In case the children 
average a net return of only 2 J cents per square foot, the return in 
food to the community would have a value of $79,150, or nearly six 
times the cost in teachers' salaries. 

Uealth. — A grand total of 29,G79 children were reported by upper 
grammar grade teachers. To improve the health of this army of 
children through out-of-door exercise would be of enough value to 
warrant all expenditure for garden teaching. To be mentally strong, 
the child must be physically healthy. A child, working with feet in 
the soil, head in the sunlight, and lungs filled with fresh air, will 
have redder blood coursing through his veins, eat better, sleep better, 
and grow into stronger manhood than one who works in mill or 
shop or idles his time away. 

The 10,3G9 children who live in apartments, flats, and tenements 
need this health-giving exercise most. To play on street and side- 
walk is dangerous to life and to walk with parents simply for exer- 
cise is boredom. The most real of all experiences comes to the child 
through accomplishing a worthy, yet difficult, task that has definite 
relation to his present life and at which he works with purpose. 

Mental training. — Most of the present-day city occupations open 
to children very largely cease to be educative when they become pro- 
ductive. In the shop and factory, the same thing must be done in 
exactly the same way, day after day. In the street trades, there is 
very little chance for real occupational growth and the acquiring of 
the " business sense," commonly spoken of, is often really the forma- 
tion of habits of taking advantage of others. 

In the garden, on the other hand, conditions are hardly the same 
from hour to hour. Each day brings new duties and problems, and 

i Now being produced by children in cities of eastern and Southern States. 



SCHOOL-DIEECTED GAKDENING. 609 

each year old methods must be improved and new products may be 
added. The child is not taking advantage of another for his own 
gain, but coping with nature's forces and learning nature's innumer- 
able lessons, and at the same time contributing much to the comfort 
and pleasure of others. 

Habits of industry. — Of the total number of children who reported 
(29,G79), 10.9 per cent worked during the out-of -school hours and 10 
per cent (Table 219) were employed in the vacation. The time of 
both boys and girls was occupied less than one hour per day by duties 
in the home. Studies of the out-of -school employment of children 
seem to show that, as the city grows in size, the possibilities for pro- 
ductive occupation decreases and that the decrease is in direct ratio 
to the size of the city. 

The boy without regular work is apt to be father of the man 
without a job. San Francisco has too many of the " park bench 
type " already. In order that the man may be a successful worker the 
child needs real occupation when in the habit-forming period. The 
productive cultivation of the back yards and vacant lots of the city 
would furnish regular occupation for many children who have no 
occupation or have been excluded from harmful pursuits by child- 
labor laws. 

The making of a successful garden must be attended by daily work. 
Weeds have to be subdued, the soil has to be mulched, and crops 
harvested at the right stage of development. From such regular 
work the child forms early the habit of industry. 

Moral influences. — No other one thing reveals quite so clearly to 
the child his place in life's plan as work with living, growing things. 
Through the use and sale of the garden products he learns to value 
dollars in terms of labor. To learn to earn one's own living honestly 
is a fundamental basis of morality. The evils of community, State, 
and nation come not from those who have learned to live by their 
own labor, but from those who wish only to profit from the labor of 
others. 

NATURE STUDY. 

Nature study and elementary science are required subjects in the. 
graded schools of San Francisco. Enough serious consideration has 
not been given to the subject, however, to work out a complete pro- 
gram adapted to the city. In surveying the work of the elementary 
schools, Messrs. McMurry and Withers found the nature study course 
and teaching unsatisfactory. 

The 1911 course of study included nature study for the purpose 
of vitalizing other subjects. By this method the subject lost its 
identity, ceasing to exist as an independent subject through over- 

93S15— 17 39 



610 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

correlation. The supplementary course of 1915 tries to remedy this 
condition by swinging to the other extreme and outlining a definite 
nature study and science course from the third to eighth grades in- 
clusive, based on Murche's Science Eeaders. This course in its defl- 
niteness goes so far as to designate the exact number of pages to be 
covered in each grade each semester. " The assignment of a set of 
readers can not be regarded as an adequate solution of the problem 
of science teaching in the grades. A bookish approach to science is 
wrong." * 

In the actual carrying out of this course, conditions vary in each 
school and with the individual teachers in the same school. Because 
of the time given to the subject, some teachers must enlarge upon 
the work given in Murche, while others are content to do only what 
is prescribed. The time given to nature study and science teach- 
ing varies all the way from one 20-minute period to five or more 30- 
minnte periods per week. Table 217. There is danger of some 
teacher k< riding a hobby " while others slight the subject. Three 
hundred and nine teachers reported on the number of field trips 
taken in the interest of studying nature as follows: Excursions were 
conducted by 132, while 177 did not take classes to the field at all. 

Table 217. — Number of nature-study excursions reported by teacher. 

Nature-study excursions reported by teacher: Teachers. 

Not any , 177 

Per week (one) 5 

Per month — 

One 15 

Two 11 

Per year — 

One 8 

Two . 7 

Three 4 

.Four ■-, 

Five „ 4 

Per term — 

One 45 

Two 20 

Three G 

Four . 4 

Five 3 

Nature-study periods per week as reported by teacher: 

One per week , 340 

Two per week 306 

Three per week 301 

Four per week , 27 

Five per week , 31 

1 Dr. C. A. MeMurry ; see p. 21G. 



SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 611 

In the cases of teachers who do conduct excursions, the number of 
trips varies from one per year to one per week. These variations 
do not seem to be uniform by grades, but without doubt depend on 
the interest of the teacher. During the exposition the children from 
all schools were taken to study the exhibits and thus had an unusual 
chance to gain nature-study information. The San Francisco school 
board overlooked an opportunity by not securing some of these dis- 
plays for geography and nature-study museums. 

In answer to a question on the use of illustrative materials in 
nature study and science lessons, the most common answer was, "In 
all lessons whenever material is available." 

A few of the teachers' answers in regard to the use of specimens 
and apparatus in nature study and science f ollow : 

'" We bring the material into class each lesson." 

" Every article, material, substance mentioned in Mnrche's Science Reader 
is used in the class room during the lesson, given according to our Course of 
Study. Illustrative material usually consists of drawings on board or pic- 
tures in books." 

11 The science is still in its early stages. The first year is entirely nature 
study with illustrative material in each lesson. In the other science (of com- 
mon things) which deals with nature and the simplest facts of physics and 
chemistry, we always try to show a relation between it and plant or animal 
life. Illustrative material is used whenever possible. Our apparatus is lim- 
ited but, little by little, the work is taking a more definite shape." 

"There is no time for field trips and the classes are much too large and 
too young for one teacher to handle informally. Some child brings illustrative 
material nearly every day or some article on the subject without being asked 
for it." 

11 The seventh and eighth grades have ' Science ' three times a week. Two 
lessons* are devoted to the work mentioned above and the third to physiology 
or hygiene. We have illustrative material for this work whenever possible." 

" In every way possible the illustrative material is used, some of the work 
being made at home. A small laboratory is in the school. I am allowed by 
the principal to make my own course in science. Gas and electricity are in 
my room." 

"During the lessons on water and mercury (as used in separating gold from 
its ore) the necessary materials were on hand in the schoolroom." 

"We have a very good museum with specimens collected by the children 
mostly. We have growing plants and vegetables in season." 

" Whenever the textbook requires it and we have the apparatus." 

" Have laid out a flower garden in the sand lot adjoining the school. In this 
way have taught the children something about practical gardening. This year 
will try to raise vegetables." 

"There is need for apparatus for almost every science lesson. At present, 
however, we have no apparatus and experiments can not be performed until 
supplies are provided." 

In the science classes of the upper grades illustrative material has 
been furnished to the three intermediate schools by the board of edu- 
cation. In several other schools the science is taught as a depart- 
mental subject, and some apparatus is made by the children or fur- 
nished by the school department. Very few of the schools have 



612 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OP SAN FRANCISCO. 



collections of any kind and when present they are in the principal's 
office and not accessible for the children to look at at will. Several 
teachers report that they have personally purchased the apparatus 
needed for illustration in their classes, as it was impossible to get 
the material from the board, or, when thus ordered, it was a long 
time before delivery. 

If nature study and science teaching are to assume the place of 
vital importance in the course of study of the grades that their value 
merits, some one with experience and training must be appointed to 
supervise the work. 

The duties of such a supervisor should be to outline a series of 
topics suited to San Francisco, together with bibliographies on each 
subject; to train the teacher to select and teach the topics of greatest 
value in the environments of the schools concerned; and to aid the 
board of education and teacher in selecting and obtaining the illus- 
trative material needed for the topics to be taught. 1 Nature study, 
elementary science, and gardening have so many points of common 
interest that the director of gardening would be the logical person 
to place in charge of all work of this nature. The home garden 
would be the logical center for a very large part of the nature study. 

PLANTING AND HARVESTING OF GARDEN CROPS IN SAN FRANCISCO. 

In order to show the possibilities of crop production under the 
climatic conditions of San Francisco, the following monthly planting 
calendars have been compiled : 2 





MONTH OF 


JANUARY. 


Vegetable crops that may be planted. 


Vegetable crops that may be harvested. 


(Last of mouth.) 


Winter lettuce. Potatoes, second 


Root crops: 


Salads : 


Cabbage. crop. 


Carrots. 


Corn salad. 


Kale. Swiss chard. 


Turnips, etc. 


Lettuce. 


Carrots. Celery. 




Spinach. 


Parsnips. Cauliflower. 
Turnips. 


Flower crops that 


may be planted. 


Flower crops that may be harvested, 


Rosos. 


Perennials : 


In bloom: 


Gladiolus. 


Hollyhocks. 


Narcissus, paper white. 


Lilies. 


Gaillardins. 


Freesias. 


Sweet peas. 


Creopsis. etc. 


Winter stock. 


Hardy annuals, 


Wild flower 


Calendula. 


such as: 


seeds for 




Snapdragon. 


open ground. 




Alyssmn. 






P;msies. etc. 







1 See also Ch. VI. 

8 From Information furnished by Kalian gardeners, compiled by Miss Louisa McDer- 
mott, and from information obtained from leading San Francisco seedsmen, compiled by 
Mr. W. G. Ilummel, associate professor of agricultural education, University of California. 






SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 



613 



MONTH OF FEBRUARY. 

Vegetable crops that may be planted. Vegetable crops that may be harvested. 



Parsley. 

Onions. 

Lettuce. 

Radish. 

Beets. 

Turnips. 

Cabbage. 

Cauliflower. 

Spinach. 

Swiss chard. 

Kohl-rabi. 



Peas. 

Celery. 

Potatoes. 

Brocolli. 

Brussels sprouts. 

Garnet Chili 

potaoes. 
Perennials : 

Rhubarb roots. 

Horse-radish. 



Flower crops that may be planted. 
Same as list for January plus dahlias 
and all hardy annual flowers. 

Perennials may still be planted, but 
they will not flower until August 
or September of same year. 

All flowering shrubs and trees. 



Same as January. 



Flower crops that may be harvested. 



Roses. 

Winter flowering sweet peas. 
Snow flakes. 

Almonds. 
Calendulas. 
Pansies 
Daffodils. 



MONTH OF MARCH 

Vegetable crops that may be planted. Vegetable crops that may be harvested. 



Same as February with beans and 

cucumbers added. 
Celery. 
Artichokes. 



Flower crops that may be planted. 
All of those given for February plus 
the half hardy annuals, such as: 

Verbena retunias. 

Schizanthus. Salpiglassis. 

Centaurea. Asters, etc. 



MONTH OF APRIL. 

Vegetable crops that may be planted. Vegetable crops that may be harvested. 



Lettuce. 
Radish. 
Onious. 
Carrots. 
Parsnips. 

Flower crops that may be harvested. 
Daffodils. 



Same as February, if planting is re- 
quired. 
No potatoes. 

Floioer crops that may be planted 

All annuals and perennials except 
those which are tender. 



Lettuce. 
Radish. 
Turnips. 



Young beets. 
Kohl-rabi. 



Floioer crops that may be harvested. 



Spnnish Iris. 
Hyacinths. 



Tulips. 
Roses. 



614 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



MONTH OF MAY. 



Vegetable crops that may be planted. 

Same as February, if planting is re- 
quired. 
No potatoes. 



Flower crops that may be planted. 

All flowers, hardy and tender. 
Chrysanthemum plants. 
Bedding plants. 



Vegetable crops that may be harvested. 



Spinach. 
Swiss chard. 
Turnips. 
Beets. 



Kohl-rabi.. 
Peas. 
Lettuce. 
Radish. 



Flower crops that may be harvested. 

Tulips. 
Iris. 

Wild flowers, and annuals planted in 
early part of year. 



MONTH OF JUNE. 



Vegetable crops that may be planted. 

Same as February, if no planting is 

required. 
No potatoes. 



Vegetable crops that may be harvested. 



String beans. 


Cabbage. 


Carrots. 


Radish. 


Turnips. 


Early potatoes. 


Beets. 


Lettuce. 



Flower crops that may be planted. 

(Iu between seasons for planting.) 
Start winter stocks for winter blooms. 



Floioer crops that may be harvested. 

Roses are passing, but the garden 
should be ripe with all of the 
-flowers planted in spring. 

Sweet peas are in full bloom. 



MONTH OF JULY. 



Vegetable crops that may be planted. 

February schedule of planting and 
second crop of beans and potatoes. 



Flower crops that may be planted. 

Start planting perennials for early 
blossoming next year. 



Vegetable crops that may be harvested. 



String beans. 

Carrots. 

Peas. 

Lettuce. 

Cauliflower. 



Cabbage. 
Spinach. 
Swiss chard. 
Radish. 



Flower crops that may be harvested. 

Lilies. 

Gladiolus and general garden flowers. 



MONTH OF AUGUST. 



Vegetable crops that may be planted. 
Winter leaf plants and root crops. 



Vegetable crops that may be harvested. 



Cauliflower. 


Carrots. 


Beans. 


Celery. 


Peas. 


Turnips. 


Lettuce. 


Beets. 


Cabbage. 





SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 



615 



Flower crops that may be planted. 

Continue planting perennials; also 
freesias for winter flowering and — 
Narcissus, paper white. 
Pansies. 



Flower crops that may be harvested. 

Dahlias. 

Sunflowers. 

Amaryllis. 

Rudbeckia. 

Montbretias. 



MONTH OF SEPTEMBER. 



Vegetable crops that may be planted. 

Set out celery plants, cabbage, kale, 

etc. 
Corn salad. 
Endive. 
Lettuce. 

Flower crops that may be planted. 

Winter flowering: 
Sweet peas. 
Bermuda Easter lilies. 
Calendula. 



Vegetable crops that may be harvested. 

Cauliflower. 

Beans. 

Celery. 

Lettuce. 

Carrots. 

Flower crops that may be harvested. 



Cosmos. 
Golden Rod. 
Chrysanthemum. 



Asters. 
Dahlias. 



MONTH OF OCTOBER. 



Vegetable crops that may be planted. 

Broad beans sometimes, and sow cab- 
bage seed for plants to set out early 
iu spring. 



Flower crops that may be planted. 
The great planting month for bulbs. 



Vegetable crops that may be harvested. 



Cauliflower. 


Kale. 


Beans. 


Cabbage. 


Turnips. 


Celery. 


Carrots. 





Flower crops that may be harvested. 
Chrysanthemum. 



MONTH OF NOVEMBER. 



Vegetable crops that may be planted. 

Sow hardy leaf vegetables for setting 

out and garden peas. 
Onions. 

Flower crops that may be planted. 
Gladiolus. Hardy annuals . 

Begonias. and perennials. 



Vegetable crops that may be harvested. 

Cauliflower. Celery. 

Carrots. Turnips. 

Beets. Parsnips. 

Flower crops that may be harvested. 



Vegetable plants that may be planted. 
Not any planting. 



Flower crops that may be planted. 

Usually cold and dry and unfavorable 
for planting. 

Sweet peas, if not planted in No- 
vember. 



MONTn OF DECEMBER. 

Vegetable crops that may be harvested. 



Cabbage. Carrots. 

Kale. Winter lettuce. 

Cauliflower. Celery. 
Parsnips. 

Floicer crops that may be harvested. 



616 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. 

In San Francisco tomatoes and corn will not ripen ; there is not enough 
heat. The Italians say every month in the year is planting time, except De- 
cember and early January. Beans and cucumbers should not be planted before 
March. With these two exceptions, all vegetables may be planted in the 
months of February, March, April, May, June, July, and August. Root vege- 
tables should not be planted later than August, except the winter radish. 
Two crops of beans can be produced, planting time March and June; also two 
crops of potatoes, spring planting February and March, fall planting in July. 



SUMMARY OF FINDINGS. 



See Tables 218-221. 



School and home gardening and elementary agriculture have not 
been recognized by the school board as a necessary school subject 
in San Francisco. 

The school gardening now being carried on by a few enthusiastic 
teachers is indefinite and fails to achieve large educational values 
or pecuniary returns. 

The topography of the city makes gardening difficult in some 
districts. 

The soil is sandy on the level areas but may be improved by the 
addition of humus to make an excellent garden soil. Available land 
with improved soils is to be found in District No. 7 and in parts 
of Districts Nos. 2, 3, 5, and G. 

During the summer gardens must be irrigated and helpful city 
ordinances are needed to aid the children in productive gardening. 

The building lots are small, either 25 by 100 or 25 by 137J feet in 
size. 

Table 21S. — Living conditions. 



Districts. 


Number of 
children 
reported. 


Number 
living in 
flats, tene- 
ments, and 
apart- 
ments. 


Number of 
cliiidron 
who could 
have gar- 
den plats 
20 bv 20 
feet. 


Are there small 
vacant lots for 

all children not 
having back- 
yard space? 


Are there large 

plats for school 

gardens? 




No. 


Yes. 


No. 


Yes. 




3,073 

746 
4.035 
8,31(3 
6, 544 
2, (501 
4,3(54 


1,889 
316 
885 
3,900 
2,500 
646 
233 


205 
137 


51 
5 


9 
10 
63 
41 
56 
22 
75 


52 
5 
35 
128 
72 
28 
17 


8 




8 




1,306 28 
1.627 128 


50 




42 


East. 

Noe Valley 


1,599 

8*8 

2,153 


72 
28 
16 


59 
24 


South 


70 






Total 


29, 679 


10,369 


7,915 


328 


276 


337 


261 







Of 29,GT9 children who reported, 10,3G9 live in apartments, flats, 
and tenements; thus vacant-lot gardens would have to be found for 
35 per cent of the children. Only 27 per cent of the children have 
land for large back-yard gardens. 



SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 



617 



In Districts Nos. 1, 4, and the central part of District No. 5 it 
will be difficult to find enough vacant land to supply large lots for 
economic gardening. The time of the children will have to be occu- 
pied by work in individual-plot school gardens or in other activities, 
such as " following the fruit." 

The large number of children who live in flats, apartments, and 
tenements, where the home makes no demand on the child's time, 
are the ones who need out-of -school-hours occupation most. 

The city school department has acquired 101 vacant tracts as sites 
for future school buildings. Many of these lots are near existing 
schools and would make excellent school gardens. 







Table 219 


. — Occupations of children 














Reported. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Girls. 










u 




t* 




u 




t4 


VI 




CO 












o 

ft 




ft 




ft 




ft 


3 


a 

o 


3 


a 

o 












a 








a 




AM 


A 


J3 ^ 


A 






















a 


















60 




60 




M 




o © 


(-1 


o o 


u 


Districts. 






SI 


a 


n 


.9 


o 


a 


c3 


.9 


-u 


^ . 


t- s 










"8 


h 


a 




Ul 

o 

"3 


c3 

a 




r? 


'3 o 
ft£ 


"5 © 

E c 


as 




>> 
o 
pq 


S 

o 


60 

i 


© 
6o 

CJ 

o 

> 
< ; 


60 

a 

3 

1 


eo 

2 

o 

> 


60 

a 
2 
o 


s, 

2 

o 

< 


60 

a 

S 

■•~ 
o 


2 

> 

< 


60 Jr 

e§ 

> 


o 


> 

< 


E 

3 


Northeast 


1,631 

363 


1,439 
3S3 


362 

85 


?2.20 
2.09 


277 
63 


«3.25 
3.02 


72 
5 


$1.76 
1.23 


75 
4 


S3. 96 
4.46 


8.0 
9.0 


227 

42 


,9.0 
8.0 


133 


North central 


45 


Western 


2,012 


2,023 


393 


1.78 


273 


2. 95 


24 


1.40 


19 


2.09 


5.5 


510 


5.5 


442 


Central 


4,113 


4,203 


870 


1.72 


859 


2.69 


30 


1.69 


42 


2.31 


5.3 


773 


5.9 


6S0 


East 


3,291 


3,253 


732 


1.58 


663 


2. 54 


60 


1.58 


66 


2.62 


6 


648 


7,0 


724 


Noe Valley 


1,304 


1,297 


227 


1.46 


239 


2.36 


15 


.91 


17 


2. 50 


5.5 


255 


6.2 


248 


South 


2,164 


2,200 


323 


1.80 


333 


2.40 


43 


.97 


47 


1.36 


7.0 


497 


7.0 


443 






Total 


14,881 


14,798 


2,992 


1.80 


2,707 


2.74 


249 


1.36 


270 


2.70 


6.6 


2,952 


7.0 


2,115 



Of the 14,881 boys who reported, 11,889 have no definite employ- 
ment outside the home after school hours, and 12,174 are unemployed 
during vacation. 

The average earnings of the boys who work after school is $1.80 
a week and $2.74 a week during vacation. 

Of 14,798 girls from whom reports were received, 14,549 have no 
employment after school and 14,528 have no money-earning work 
during vacation. 

The girls who work earn an average of $1.36 a week after school 
and $2.76 per week during vacation. 

That the average city home does not furnish employment for its 
children is shown by the fact that the boys work an average of only 
6.6 hours per week and the girls 7 hours per week. Many children 
report that they have no definite duties at home. 

During the school year 1915-16 the schools were in session 187J 
days. The children are out of school nearly one-half of the days of 
the year and fully one-half the daylight hours of each school day. 



618 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FKANCISCO. 
Table 220. — Economic chart. 





Total 
number 
of chil- 
dren in 
school. 


Aver- 
age 
daily 
attend- 
ance. 


Vege- 
table 
food 
cost 

for fam- 
ily of 

of five. 


Following the fruit. 


Children leaving 
school to work. 


Districts. 


Num- 
ber. 


Pate of leav- 
ing school. 


Date of return 
to school. 


Num- 
ber. 


Cause. 


Northeast 


5, 167 

1,319 

5,914 

12, 892 

10,f35 
4,078 

6,717 


4,541 
1,175 

5,386 
11,370 

9,361 
3,705 

6,145 


$57. 79 
78.92 
81.68 
88.18 

68.65 
75.22 

57.29 


91 
6 
3 

19 

83 
5 

39 


February... 
July 


October 

September.. 

Aug. 30 

September.. 


68 
15 
24 
99 

140 
20 

78 


Need. 
Do. 


North central 


Western 


June 1 

Close of 
school. 


To. 

Do. 

Do. 


Central 


East 


Noe Valley 


Close of 
school. 


Aug. 23 


Do 


South 


Do. 










Total 


46, 722 


41,683 


72.53 


246 






444 













The average cost of vegetables for a year for a family of five per- 
sons was estimated at $72.53. 

Two hundred and forty-six children were absent from school a 
part of the year " following the fruit." 

Under the right direction "following the fruit" has educational 
possibilities. 

During the year 444 pupils left school to work. 

The cause of going to work was in most instances family need. 

Children would remain in school longer if money could be earned 
at the same time. 

Table 221. — Home interests of children. 



Districts. 


Number of children reported. 


Number of children having— 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


Gardens. 


Poultry. 


Pigeons. 


Kabbits. 


Northeast 


1,634 
313 
2,012 
4,113 
3,291 
1,304 
2, 164 


1,439 
383 
2,023 
4,203 
3,253 
1,297 
2,200 


3,073 
746 
4,035 
8,316 
6,544 
2,101 
4,364 


510 
203 
1,430 
2,166 
2,065 
1,000 
1,618 


108 
66 
472 
263 
729 
382 
1,157 


115 

16 
12S 
139 
347 
181 
366 


67 


North central 


3G 


Wes tern 

Ccn tral 


211 
252 


East 


447 


Noe Valley 


222 


South 


807 






Total 


14,881 


14,798 


29,679 


8,992 


3,177 


1,292 


2,042 





At the present time gardens are made at the homes of 8,902 chil- 
dren of 29,G79 reporting. Poultry is kept at 3,177 homes; pigeons 
at 1,292; and rabbits at 2,042. 

Under the right direction many children might immediately use 
their time profitably in home projects with gardens, poultry, pigeons, 
and rabbits. 

By profitable occupation of time children might be kept out of the 
juvenile court. 

Home and vacant lot projects could be offered as substitute for 
street trades. 



SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 619 

Thirteen teachers now in service in the grades have received special 
training in elementary agriculture and garden teaching. 

The University of California, College of Agriculture, offers aca- 
demic and practical courses for the training of other teachers. 

When prevocational courses in nature study and gardening have 
been worked out vocational high school courses in agriculture should 
be supplied. 

To train many children to cultivate intensively small lots and to 
lead them to the study of agriculture vocationally in the high school 
will supply, first, better trained students to the division of agriculture 
of the State university, and, second, successful agriculturists — a great 
need of the State. 

CONCLUSION. 

There is a great need on the part of the children of San Francisco 
for the proper direction of their out-of-school hours. No matter 
how well the classroom instruction is given, it will count for little 
in the life of the child if his out-of-school interests and influences 
are allowed to undermine his health or character. 

When school and home gardening or other productive and edu- 
cative occupations are offered to the children as school-directed sub- 
jects, they must be taught in terms of the life of the child and not 
by overformalized school methods. 

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

1. A director of nature study and school and home gardening 
should be appointed to act under the direction of the deputy super- 
intendent responsible for vocational education and the manual arts. 
(See Chapter XIV.) 

2. It should be the duty of this director to plan a series of nature- 
study projects for each school, adapted to the age of the children and 
the environment of the school. 

3. The director should be held responsible for the working out of 
a complete plan of home and school gardening and other home- 
project activities for the city. A further study of the out-of-school 
activities of school children should be made with a view to incor- 
porating in this department agricultural home projects of educative 
and productive value. 

4. At the recommendation of the director, from 10 to 15 grade 
teachers should be appointed at once as school and home garden 
teachers. These teachers should do the regular grade teaching dur- 
ing school hours but should be paid an extra salary for teaching 
children to conduct school and home gardens after school, on Satur- 
day, and during the vacations. 



620 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

5. In the schools in which these teachers are the teaching should 
be made departmental to such an extent as will permit them to teach 
gardening in the upper grades during school hours and direct the 
practical work out of school hours. 

G. The teachers selected should be placed for the first year in 
schools in districts where the vacant lots are numerous and back 
yards available for gardening, as in Districts 2, 3, 6, and 7. 

7. Other teachers interested in garden teaching should be selected 
and directed in obtaining training in gardening by courses given by 
the director, by courses at the University of California, by observa- 
tion of the methods employed by Italian gardeners, and by acting 
as cadet teachers to the regular garden teachers. 

8. Enough garden teachers should be trained and appointed each 
year so that at the end of five j 7 ears there may be enough such teachers 
to allow one for every 150 children between the ages of 9 and 15, for 
whom land can be had for gardening either at or within reasonable 
distances of the children's homes. 



Chapter XVII. 

DIGEST OF SUMMARIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND 

CONCLUSIONS. 



For the reader's convenience a brief digest of the important rec- 
ommendations which are made in various parts of this report has 
been prepared. The recommendations in full, together with the 
data and the discussion on which they are based, will be found in 
the chapters bearing the corresponding titles. 

PRESUPPOSITIONS. 

In making these recommendations it is assumed : 

1. That the ideal of education in a democracy demands: (a) That 
in any city there shall be a single unified system, embracing all 
schools supported by public taxation; (b) that the control of the 
schools shall be vested in a board of school trustees responsible 
directly to the people; (c) that the fundamental purpose of the 
schools is to produce intelligent, loyal, and independent citizens; and 
(d) that the scope of the task of the schools is nothing less than the 
education of all the children of all the people with substantial 
equality of opportunity. 

2. That each type of school (elementary, secondary, special) has 
its own particular function to perform and finds its greatest useful- 
ness in rendering to the people its own peculiar service* 

3. That all these forms of service are equally worthy and dignified 
if performed equally well. 

4. That the people of the State and city are both willing and able 
to provide all funds that may be necessary for the adequate support 
of the public-school system and the legitimate work of any part of it. 

5. That the schools exist primarily for the children and not for 
officers, teachers, or any other employees. 

G. That the people of San Francisco desire the best service and the 
fullest possible returns from their public schools and are willing to 
make at any time such conservative changes in their organization, in 
the form and method of their control, in their courses of study, and 
in their methods of teaching as may appear clearly and certainly to 
be necessary or contributory to this end. 

G21 



622 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

7. That the board of education, the superintendent of schools, and 
the civic organizations, at whose request this survey was undertaken, 
and all taxpayers and citizens of San Francisco desire to have such 
a full and frank statement in regard to their public-school system as 
will enable them to understand it in its main outlines at least, and 
such comprehensive, constructive suggestions for its improvement as 
w T ill enable them to reorganize the system on a sound basis, to remedy 
its more important evils, correlate it with other educational agencies, 
adapt its work to the constantly developing life of the city, State r 
Nation, and the world, and to conduct its affairs wisely, and insure 
it a vigorous and healthy growth. 

8. That all who will read this report know that education is 
not as yet an exact science and that much of what is accepted as 
fundamental is not the result of scientific investigation and demon- 
stration, but rather the consensus of opinion tested by personal 
observation and experience, and this opinion is constantly develop- 
ing and changing. 

I. THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

1. San Francisco is a young and vigorous city, situated at one 
of the doors of the continent, through which must pass much of the 
life and business of the continent, inevitably affecting its character,, 
its growth, and its development. 

2. Few other cities in the world are so able to maintain their 
schools and to supply them abundantly with all buildings, equip- 
ment, and teachers that may be needed for their highest efficiency 
at whatever cost may be necessary. 

3. The people of San Francisco and their representatives on the 
board of education, in the city council, and in the State legislature 
may and should, in planning for the future development of the 
public-school system of the city, take counsel of perfection. 

II. STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

The statistical tables and comment presented in Chapter II do not 
lend themselves readily to further summary. The reader is referred 
directly to the text. 

III. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

1. The public schools of San Francisco can not be happily or suc- 
cessfully administered until the present method of administration 
makes way for a plan of control which will permit the educational 
forces in the city to do their work properly, efficiently, and well. 



SUMMARIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 623 

CHANGES IN STATE CONSTITUTION AND CITY CHAETEE. 

2. The State constitution of California should be amended so as 
to relieve the County of San Francisco from the obligation of elect- 
ing a county superintendent of schools. 

3. The charter of San Francisco should be amended to provide 
for the creation of a board of education, which should be inde- 
pendent of all other branches of the city government, and which 
should have the full control and management, through its superin- 
tendent of schools and his assistants, of all matters relating to public- 
school affairs in San Francisco, in the educational, business, and 
financial departments of the school system; the members of the 
board to serve without compensation. 

4. The board of education should be empowered to make its budget 
and to determine the amount of the school tax levy, under the limita- 
tion of the State law. 

5. The charter of San Francisco should be amended further to 
establish beyond question the proper relation between the board of 
education and the superintendent of schools, as its technical expert, 
and all of the board's employees under him. 

G. The task of amending the charter and reorganizing the public- 
school system should be undertaken independently of personal con- 
siderations or expediency, and solely in the light of fundamentally 
sound principles of organization and administration. 

GENEKAL. 

7. The board of education as a corporate body should have all the 
constitutional and statutory powers which are conferred upon simi- 
lar corpornte bodies by the constitution and the general laws of the 
State of California. 

8. The charter should be amended to permit the tax levy to exceed 
the minimum tax provided by State law under the discretion of the 
board of education for the meeting of proper emergencies. 

9. A new department should be created to have charge of build- 
ings and grounds, including planning, erection, maintenance and 
repair, and supervision of the engineer and janitorial staff. 

10. The board of education should reorganize its system of ac- 
counting by creating a department of accounting and statistics, 
which should also be responsible for purchasing and distributing 
equipment and supplies. 

11. All playground work and all recreational activities under 
public auspices in the city are educational in their intent and pur- 
pose and should be under the full control of the board of education. 



624 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

12. The official proceedings of the board of education should be 
published and made available for the inspection and reference of all 
officers and heads of departments of the school system and for the 
information of the public. 

THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

13. Members of the board of education, nine in number, repre- 
senting the city at large, should be elected by the people of the 
city and county of San Francisco, or appointed by the mayor and 
confirmed by the board of supervisors, or appointed by the judges 
of the superior court; should serve without compensation, and should 
give to the duties of their office such time as the business of the 
board of education may require. Members of the board should be 
not less than 30 years of age, and should have been residents of the 
city and county of San Francisco for at least five years prior to their 
appointment. 

14. The board should never be so constituted as to consist of more 
than four members of the same political party. The term of office 
of members of the board should be for six years, three members being 
appointed every two years after the first organization. 

15. The board should organize by electing one of its members 
president, by electing a paid secretary who shall not be a member, 
and by creating two standing committees of four members each, 
one on business, and one on education. 

1G. The board should hold regular meetings once each month, and 
special meetings at such times as it may determine. 

17. The board of education should elect a superintendent of schools 
and determine the amount of his salary. The term of office of the 
superintendent should be for at least four years. 

18. The board should elect five deputy superintendents on the 
written recommendation of the superintendent, and one additional 
deputy superintendent for each 20,000 pupils in average daily attend- 
ance over and above the base number of 45,000 pupils. One deputy 
should be placed in charge of all activities connected with the de- 
partment of buildings and grounds; one deputy should be placed in 
charge of the department of accounting, statistics, and supplies; the 
remaining deputies should be assigned to such administrative, pro- 
fessional, and supervisory work as the superintendent may deter- 
mine. The term of office of the deputy superintendents should be 
for at least four years, and they should receive such salary as the 
board of education may determine. 

19. All other persons in the employ of the board of education, in 
such numbers as may be necessary to a proper carrying on of the 
work in all departments of the public-school system, should be elected 
by the board, on the initiative and written recommendation of the 
superintendent of schools. 



SUMMAKIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 625 

20. The board of education should have the right to dismiss any 
school officer or any other employee of the board for insubordination, 
or immoral or unprofessional conduct, provided the charges against 
such officer or employee shall first be formally presented to the board 
by the superintendent of schools, after due investigation, and pro- 
vided further that such charges shall be passed upon finally by the 
board after due hearing. The board should also have the right, on 
the written recommendation of the superintendent of schools, to 
dismiss without a hearing any school officer or other employee for 
evident unfitness to perform the duties of his office or position. 

21. The board of education should have the power to establish, 
organize, and maintain such classes and types of schools and depart- 
ments of special work as it may deem necessary, and to change, 
modify, consolidate, or discontinue the same as the interests of the 
public-school system may require. 

22. The board of education should have the power to create or 
abolish positions in connection with the educational, business, and 
financial departments of the school system as it may determine under 
the limitations of the State law, and to fill such positions on the 
initiative and written recommendation of the superintendent of 
schools. 

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS. 

23. The superintendent of schools should be definitely and offi- 
cially recognized as the technical expert of the board of education, 
employed by the board as its adviser and chief executive officer, and 
charged with complete control of and responsibility for the conduct 
of the school system under the board and for carrying out the 
policies determined upon by the board. 

24. Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools 
the board of education should adopt such rules as may be necessary 
to define clearly the status of all employees. 

25. The superintendent of schools should be free to determine 
the assignment of duties among his deputies and other assistants as 
the best interests of the service may require from time to time. 

NEW ACTIVITIES. 

2G. The board of education, in accordance with plans prepared 
by the superintendent of schools, should provide for the introduction 
or further extension of those newer tjqoes of school activities which 
have not } 7 et received full practical recognition in San Francisco. 

27. The following new special departments should be created: (1) 
Evening schools and school extension; (2) school gardens, nature 
study, agriculture, and city beautification ; (3) attendance; (4) 
writing. 

93S15— 17- — 40 



626 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

28. Existing special departments should be continued or reor- 
ganized, as follows: (1) The department of drawing, to be called the 
"Department of art education"; (2) the department of music, as 
now; (3) the department of home economics, to be called the "De- 
partment of home economics and vocational subjects for girls"; (4) 
the department of manual training, to be called the "Department 
of manual training and vocational subjects for boys"; (5) the 
department of primary grades, to be called the "Department of 
primary and kindergarten instruction"; (G) the department of 
physical education, athletics, social and lecture centers, to be called 
the "Department of health." Activities of the social and lecture 
centers should be transferred to the new department of evening 
schools and school extension. The functions of the new department 
of health should be enlarged. 

29. Each of these departments should have at its head a capable, 
technically trained officer, called director, who should be given such 
technical assistants, called supervisors, and such clerical assistants 
as may be necessary for the effective performance of the duties as- 
signed. 

EFFICIENCY OF THE STAFF. 

30. The board of education should have the right, on the recom- 
mendation of the superintendent of schools, to set the standard of 
qualifications to be required of (hose seeking positions in the edu- 
cational department, and to refuse to admit to examination any per- 
son who does not fully meet the requirements established. 

31. The board of education should create a board of examiners, 
consisting of the superintendent of schools and his deputies, the 
function of which should be to examine and certificate all employees 
who are required by law to be holders of proper certificates before 
being eligible to employment in the school system. 

32. The superintendent of schools should establish eligible lists 
of teachers according to rules and regulations of the board of edu- 
cation. 

33. A plan of tenure of office of employees on the educational stall 
should be adopted by the board of education, upon the recommenda- 
tion of the superintendent. 

34. The superintendent of schools should have the authority to 
recommend, and the board of education should have the power to 
confirm, the appointments of persons best qualified for the service 
to be performed, irrespective of the places of residence of appointees. 

35. A record of the efficiency ratings of all employees should be 
kept on file in the office of the superintendent of schools. 

36. Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, 
the board of education should make full use of the State law pro- 



SUMMARIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 627 

viding for those employees who, on account of long service or ad- 
vanced years, have reached a state when they should be retired from 
the schools. 

37. The superintendent of schools with his staff of deputies and 
special directors should provide that educational and inspirational 
leadership which will insure the continued training and professional 
advancement of teachers and other employees while in the service. 

IV. FINANCE. 

1. A comprehensive building program will soon make heavy de- 
mands on the boai'd of education. The needed funds can be pro- 
cured only through the further issuance of school bonds. 

2. The board of supervisors in setting the school levy has been 
obliged to exceed the limit of the tax rate as provided in the city 
and county charter in order to procure sufficient revenue to support 
the schools. The situation thus created should be remedied by 
amendment to the charter. 

3. The gradual increase in the school budget has no more than 
kept pace with the increase in the number of children to be educated, 
whereas such expenditures in the country as a whole have increased 
more rapidly than the number of children. 

4. In comparison with other cities, San Francisco has assumed 
almost no financial burden in connection with such auxiliary agencies 
as school libraries, library books, promotion of health, provision for 
school lunches, community lectures, and social centers. 

5. The cost of conducting the schools per pupil has remained prac- 
tically stationa^ since 1908. General increase in prices of commodi- 
ties during the past nine }^ears and adjustment of the school system 
to a reasonable degree of improvement in methods and equipment 
should have caused a greater increase in the cost per pupil than has 
actually taken place. 

G. Comparing San Francisco and the nine other cities in the same 
population class, San Francisco possesses much less than her share of 
municipal property devoted to public-school purposes. 

7. San Francisco ranks fourth in the list of cities in total amount 
of indebtedness for all purposes and also in school indebtedness, 
although sixth in per capita indebtedness in both cases. 

8. San Francisco ranks considerably below the average of the 10 
cities in current expenditures for public schools, although outranking 
all the other cities in cost of maintaining the city government, fire 
and police departments. 

9. San Francisco ranks conspicuously ahead of the other cities in 
per cent of total governmental expenditures devoted to expenses of 
both police and fire departments, but is lowest in the list in per cent 
devoted to school expenditures. 



628 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

V. SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 

1. The board of education should be given power to anticipate 
needs and purchase school sites of sufficient size and in strategic 
places before actual need drives them into the market. 

2. Sites should be selected upon which it will be possible to erect 
buildings with east and west exposures for the classrooms. 

3. Larger playgrounds should be provided. 

4. Some exceedingly poor construction work has been permitted 
on some of the new buildings. Lowell High School is cited as 
illustration. 

5. Good fireproofing and better and safer stairways would lessen 
need of fire escapes. Fire escapes now in use are not satisfactory. 

G. More fan power is needed to insure proper ventilation in class- 
rooms when windows and doors are closed. 

7. Unless sufficient fan power is supplied, it will be better to heat 
.the buildings by some form of direct radiation and depend on win- 
dows for ventilation. 

8. Thermostats should be more carefully supervised, and all parts 
of control apparatus connected with them should be installed in 
places easily accessible. 

9. Plenum chambers and all air passages must be kept scrupu- 
lously clean. 

10. Vacuum cleaners should be so installed that they can be used 
easily and effectively, or not installed at all. The plan of installa- 
tion now in use is wholly unsatisfactory; these sanitary helps are 
practically useless. 

11. All basements should be cleared of all inflammable materials. 

12. A central warehouse should be used for storage, and all sup- 
plies and furniture distributed therefrom as needed and returned 
when not in use. 

13. Drinking fountains should be set at proper heights for chil- 
dren and kept' in order. 

14. Toilets. (See specific recommendations concerning toilets in 
section under this heading.) 

15. Assembly rooms should be placed on first floor above the base- 
ment and lighted from two sides. 

1G. Basement rooms should not be used for classrooms unless 
properly lighted, free from ground air and moisture, and lighted 
from east or west. 

17. Domestic-science rooms should be on the top floor rather than 
in basements. 

18. Transoms in school buildings are troublesome and should be 
dispensed with. 



SUMMARIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 629 

19. There should be slate blackboards in all permanent buildings. 

20. Many blackboards are in bad condition and need attention. 

21. Set blackboards as follows: First and second grades, 26 inches 
above the floor; third and fourth grades, 28 inches; fifth and sixth 
grades, 30 inches ; seventh and eighth grades, 32 inches ; high school, 
36 inches. 

22. Blackboards should not be over 42 inches wide, except for the 
teacher and for an occasional special room. 

23. As far as possible classrooms should receive light from either 
the east or west side and from no other directions. 

24. Art rooms should have the north light. Laboratories, offices^ 
and libraries may receive light from any direction. 

25. Classrooms should be lighted from one side only (east or 
west) ; assembly rooms from two sides, but not from the front or 
rear. 

26. Bottoms of windows in classrooms should be at least 4 feet 
above the floor. 

27. Windows, properly placed, should have glass surface equal 
to one-fifth the floor space. 

28. The windows should be kept clean. 

29. Double-hung sash are easiest for women to handle. 

30. Architectural ornamentations of windows introduce difficul- 
ties in lighting. Rectangular windows set as high as possible give 
best results. 

31. The medical or health inspection should be under the control 
of the board of education, rather than the board of health. 

32. Full time is needed of 5 physicians, 1 specialist in mental 
hygiene, 20 nurses, and an efficient corps of dentists. 

33. More open-air schools are needed. In all new grammar schools 
to be erected provision should be made for open-air classes. 

34. More careful segregation of defective children is of immediate 
importance, and a more thoroughgoing attempt to train them prop- 
erly should be instituted. 

VI. THE ELEMENTARr SCHOOLS. 
A. SCHOOL OKGANIZATION. 

1. Education of children is the fundamental purpose and concern 
of the public school; everything else should be subordinate to this 
aim. 

2. Study of types of school now in operation is needed to determine 
comparative efficiency and economy. 

3. Division of city into elementary school districts is recommended. 

4. Small schools are expensive and should be abandoned as rapidly 
as new buildings can be provided. 



630 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

5. Proportion of men principals should be increased. 
G. More supervision of special subjects is needed. 

7. More adequate provision should be made for education of 
feeble-minded and backward children and other special classes. 

B. COUBSE OF STUDY. 

8. Newer aims of education should be recognized. 

9. A more complete up-to-date course of study manual should be 
published for use of officers and teachers and for the information of 
the public. 

10. Story-telling and dramatization should be systematically de- 
veloped in literature and language work. 

11. The unusual advantages for study of home geography in San 
Francisco should bo more fully utilized. 

12. " Cumulative reviews " should give way to a richer treatment of 
topics, to comparisons, and to reflective thinking. 

13. Adequate libraries and supplies of supplementary materials 
are greatly needed. 

14. Closer correlation and more continuity of thought should 
characterize the various subjects running through ^he grades. 

C. DISCIPLINE AND INSTBUCTION. 

15. More lively and graphic forms of instruction should be em- 
ployed in primary grades. 

1G. In intermediate and grammar grades there should be more 
stimulating thought and less memoriter work. 

17. There should be more systematic development of free oral dis- 
cussion in history, geography, nature study, and literature. 

18. Free and constant use of blackboard by teacher and pupils as 
means of expression should be encouraged. 

19. Home geography with excursions and discussions should be 
used as a means of enriching all studies. 

20. School studies should reflect more of real life. 

21. Textbooks should be supplemented by material from other 
sources. 

22. Pupils should be expected to put forth more effort in solving 
problems and in self-reliant thinking. 

23. Departmental teaching should be encouraged. 

24. Definite measures should be taken for encouraging growth and 
improvement of teachers in classroom methods. 

25. Some classes are too large to permit necessary amount of indi- 
vidual instruction. 






SUMMARIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 631 

D. SUPERVISION. 

2G. The greatest need of school system is for vigorous, stimulating 
leadership. 

27. More adequate school records should be kept. 

E. SELECTION, PROMOTION, IMPROVEMENT, AND TENURE OF TEACHERS. 

28. System of promotion and retirement should be based on merit. 

29. More effective measures should be taken for improvement of 
teachers in service and for encouraging development of jn'ofessional 
spirit and attitude. 

VII. SUGGESTED BY TESTS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PUPILS. 
PENMANSHIP. 

1. So far as form alone is concerned, the writing of the San Fran- 
cisco children is good. 

2. Whether this excellence is attained at the sacrifice of speed or in 
company with the attainment of a satisfactory speed is not estab- 
lished by these tests. 

3. The particular type of progress from grade to grade should bo 
studied critically, since it deviates considerably from the practice in 
other cities. 

4. Variability among schools should also be studied carefully. 

SPELLING. 

5. The city as a whole ranks considerably above the standard aver- 
age for a large number of cities. 

G. Girls seem to spell uniformly better than boys. 

7. Further tests should be made in all the schools to determine the 
causes of the wide variations in achievement. 

BEADING. 

8. There is need of standardizing the work in reading for the 
system as a whole, so as to secure a more definite progress in ability 
from grade to grade. 

9. A reasonable degree of uniformity in progress among the dif- 
ferent schools should be sought, to facilitate the transfer and pro- 
motion of pupils. 

10. Rending tests on a much larger scale should be conducted in 
order to determine standards and to assist in eliminating extreme 
variations. 



632 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FEANCISCO. 

ARITHMETIC. 

11. The San Francisco children made an unusually good showing 
in speed, but did not do so well in accuracy, and did not show the 
usual increases in accuracy with progress through the grades. 

12. More emphasis should be placed on accuracy in all phases of 
arithmetic work. 

13. A study should be made to determine the causes for the appar- 
ent inferiority of the seventh grades in several of the tests. 

14. A study should be made to determine the causes of the extreme 
variations in ability among the several schools and grades. 

15. A study should be made to determine the possibility of excus- 
ing certain individual pupils from unnecessary drill. 

1G. More emphasis is needed on certain fundamental operations 
and on problems involving reasoning. 

VIII. THE HIGH SCHOOLS. 

1. The number of high schools reporting to the Bureau of Educa- 
tion increased nearly three times as rapidly as the total population 
during the period 1890 to 1915, indicating a great popularization of 
high-school education. 

2. Compared with other cities in the same population class, San 
Francisco has not shared proportionately in the movement for the 
expansion of public high-school facilities which is characteristic of 
the country as a whole. 

3. The realization of the ideal of a high-school education for prac- 
tically every normal boy and girl is now believed by many to be a 
reasonable object of endeavor. 

4. The high school should undertake to help all boys and girls in 
their efforts to prepare for useful and satisfying careers in many 
different directions. 

5. The important features of a successful high school are: (a) An 
adequate building; (b) ample equipment; (c) varied courses of 
study; (d) adequate and efficient teaching force; (e) efficient admin- 
istrative machinery; (/) provision for the physical and social wel- 
fare of students and faculty; (g) inspiring leadership. In all of 
these respects the high schools of San Francisco are deficient to 
greater or less degree. 

G. The school authorities in San Francisco are to be commended 
for the adoption and announcement of the following progressive 
program with reference to the high-school courses of study: 

a. Proposed abandonment of the principle of "type" high schools. 

b. Virtual acceptance of the principle of the cosmopolitan curricu- 
lum. 



SUMMARIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 633 

c. Recognition of the necessity of providing for a variety of aims 
on the part of the student body. 

d. Recognition of the elective system in planning four-year pro- 
grams for students. 

e. Arrangement of studies in curricula, or " groups," as sugges- 
tions for the assistance of pupils in planning their work to accom- 
plish certain definite ends. 

/. Tentative inauguration of a "continuation plan." 

7. In the actual administration of this program, however, it is 
noted that: (a) The high schools are not so located as to provide 
equality of educational opportunity to all sections of the city; (&) 
only two of the seven curricula are offered in all high schools; (c) 
some important groups of elective subjects are offered in only one or 
two schools; (d) in actual practice the "interlocking system among 
schools " has not secured for students the advantages expected of it. 

8. Needed changes in the course of study are: (a) The actual 
benefits of the " all-inclusive " course of study should be made avail- 
able to students in each high school; (b) at least one modern foreign 
language in each high school, and a second language if demanded; 
(c) elective courses in each high school in freehand drawing and 
design, and music; (d) courses in science strengthened and extended, 
especially social science; (e) strong courses in shopwork and draft- 
ing for boys, home economics for girls, and commercial subjects for 
both boys and girls, in each high school. 

0. In the revision of high-school courses of study, due considera- 
tion should be given to desirable adjustments to the industrial, com- 
mercial, and manufacturing life of the city. 

10. In any school differentia tion in courses of study should be 
according to definite and predominating needs of the district in which 
the school is located. Greater differentiation may be made in the 
last two years. 

11. Needed changes in material facilities require that additional 
buildings be erected at an early date on the land adjoining the High 
School of Commerce and the Mission High School, and that new 
buildings be provided as early as possible for high schools needed in 
Richmond and North Beach. The new schools should at first be 
junior high schools and should be gradually developed into senior 
high schools. 

12. High-school districts should be formed with more definite 
boundaries, following the establishment of high schools in other 
parts of the city. 

13. Both boys and girls should be admitted to all high schools. 

14. Each high school should have a good reference library in charge 
of a trained librarian, with an ample appropriation for the purchase 
of reference books. 



634 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

15. High-school buildings not provided with individual lockers 
for pupils should have such provision made at once. 

10. Evening schools should be opened in all the high-school build- 
ings, with adequate provision for faculty, equipment, and supplies. 

17. Clerical assistance and suitable office equipment should be pro- 
vided in each high school. 

18. All high schools should be required to keep uniform record 
blanks of all kinds, permanent student records, and records of 
graduates. 

19. The amount of work clone by teachers in all the high schools, 
measured by the number of periods per day they are busy, is too 
great, and many classes contain too many students for effective work. 

20. The number of teachers should be increased to such an extent 
that the usual number of daily periods of classroom instruction per 
teacher shall not exceed fixe, and no teacher should, be required to 
instruct more than six classes a day. 

21. The size of classes should be reduced gradually until the usual 
maximum average attendance does not exceed 25 pupils per class. 
Only in exceptional cases should recitation classes be permitted to 
exceed 30. 

22. A professional spirit among the teachers should be encouraged, 
and principals and heads of departments should be given the 
authority necessary for the encouragement and direction of such a 
spirit. 

23. An increase should be made in the salary schedule of high- 
school teachers so as to encourage study, travel, and participation in 
teachers' associations and other means of stimulating professional 
growth. The city should have a high-school teachers' association, 
and active membership in this should be regarded as one of the 
elements determining promotion in position and salary. 

24. High-school principals should be given more responsibility and 
more authority. 

25. In each high school the principal and each head of a depart- 
ment, subject to the approval of the superintendent, should be 
charged with the direction and work of that department. 

20. In each high school there should be advisory committees, ap- 
pointed by the principal, for the purpose of assisting students in 
the choice of studies and in giving them such special help as they 
may need later. 

27. In each high school there should be a dean of women and a 
physical director. 

28. The social life of the school should be definitely fostered by 
the faculty and directed by the dean of women. 

29. The dean of women and the principal, acting as dean of men, 
should function in the life of the school in many positive and help- 
ful ways. 



SUMMARIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 635 

30. Effort should be made to utilize the various informal agencies 
available for the encouragement of a more positive type of desirable 
school spirit among the students, and for the development of that 
fine spirit of earnest enthusiasm which might easily characterize 
every one of these high schools. 

31. A community center should be organized at each high school. 

IX. CIVIC EDUCATION. 

1. Responsibility for all civic and social education in the public 
school should be centered in one deputy superintendent. 

2. Subordinate to this deputy superintendent there should be (a) 
a director of health and recreational activities, and (b) a director 
of civic education. 

3. The director of health and recreational activities should have 
supervision over physical education and athletics, medical inspection 
and clinics, plaj'ground activities, and the recreational activities of 
community centers. 

4. The director of civic education should be responsible for plan- 
ning and organizing civics instruction in day and evening schools, 
training and supervision of teachers giving civics instruction, assist- 
ing teachers in interpreting current events for instructional purposes, 
planning and directing community forums, and supervision of pupil 
participation in school affairs and community activities. 

5. Pending the administrative reorganization suggested, improve- 
ment in civics instruction should be sought through conferences of 
principals and teachers. 

6. The departments of "history" in the high schools should be 
renamed departments of "social study." 

7. Heads of departments of social study in high schools should 
assume cooperative responsibility for social studies in the seventh 
and eighth grades. 

8. In arranging schedules of teachers of social studies, ample time 
should be allowed for teachers' preparation. 

9. A committee should be appointed to reorganize the course of 
social studies in accordance with the spirit and suggestions of this 
report. 

10. Teachers should be supplied with a sufficient number and 
variety of textbooks and material for supplementary reading. 

11. Adequate libraries of reference material should be provided. 

12. Closer cooperation between the schools and the public library 
should be sought. 

13. The courses in social studies in evening schools should be more 
closely adapted to the needs and conditions of students in these 
schools. 



636 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

14. More adequate and more appropriate evening-school facilities 
should be provided for adult foreigners. 

15. Steps should be taken to secure more general and more regular 
attendance of adult foreigners not yet naturalized. 

16. A course of citizenship instruction should be provided, adapted 
to the needs of adult foreigners. 

17. Special emphasis should be given to civics instruction in schools 
attended by large groups of foreign children. 

18. Community centers should be developed as rapidly as possible 
in schools ministering largely to foreign groups in the population. 

19. Community centers should be maintained by the board of edu- 
cation from public funds. 

20. Elementary-school pupils should be given a larger share of 
responsibility for the conduct of the school life as a means of citi- 
zenship training. 

. 21. Pupil participation in the management and direction of school 
activities should be made an important factor in the civic training 
of high-school pupils. 

22. Pupil participation in community activities should be en- 
couraged as a means of civic education, but always under proper 
safeguards. 

23. Gardening and playground activities should be made factors in 
civic education. 

24. Public playgrounds should be administered by the board of 
education, rather than by a separate commission. 

X. MUSIC IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

1. The system of music in the elementary schools of San Fran- 
cisco implies greater regard for music as vocal expression than for 
music as aural impression. It should be recognized that music is 
essentially something to receive through the ear rather than to ex- 
press through the voice. 

2. The vocal practice of the children is in the main admirable. 

3. The segregation of boys from girls for part singing, and the as- 
signment of boys to a low-voice part is a mistake. It is the only 
serious mistake that is entirely within the control of the music de- 
partment. 

4. The treatment of changing voices in the upper grades is bad. 

5. In general, part singing is comparatively undeveloped or 
poorly treated. 

G. Monotones are very competently instructed and cured. 

7. The quality of the sight singing is only fair. 

8. Theoretical instruction is quite thorough and general. 



SUMMARIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 637 

9. The spirit in the singing, both as to its musical and social as- 
pects, and on the part of both pupils and teachers, is beautiful. 

10. There is wise recognition of the worth of the musical inherit- 
ance that foreign children possess, and this inheritance is made to 
contribute to their development as American citizens. 

11. The development of patriotism, national and State, which is 
effected by the singing of patriotic songs, is an incidental feature of 
value, especially in a cosmopolitan city like San Francisco. 

12. Broadly speaking, the system of practice in the elementary 
schools tends to the attainment of general social and humanistic 
ends rather than to the development of specific musical culture and 
appreciation. 

13. The time given to music in the elementary schools is insuffi- 
cient. 

14. The greatest shortcomings arise from conditions that lie par- 
tially or wholly outside of the sphere of departmental authority: 

a. Orchestral playing receives academic approbation but no ma- 
terial and systematic official support. 

1). The children in the elementary schools are on a starvation diet 
with regard to the quantity of musical material provided. 

c. The number of music supervisors in the elementary schools is 
insufficient. 

d. Division of authority in the overhead control of the depart- 
ment of music is a serious obstacle to good work. 

15. The adoption of the new course in music for the high schools 
is a most fortunate step. 

16. Suitable equipment for the musical appreciation classes should 
be provided. 

17. Close watch should be kept upon the development of the work 
in high schools that now receive only part of the time of a teacher, 
and the probable early need for two or more teachers should be 
promptly anticipated. 

18. The teachers of music in the high schools are not organized as 
a corps and methods are likely to become unfortunately divergent in 
consequence. 

19. The same confusion as to official and unofficial instruction that 
disturbs elementary-school work in music disturbs, in like manner, 
the high-school work. 

20. Orchestral playing has had an inspiring history in the San 
Francisco high schools, and given new adequate encouragement and 
support it should soon reach quite extraordinary attainments. 

21.- Definite official announcement concerning school credit for the 
study of music under outside teachers should be made, and steps taken 
to encourage what is likely to be, in San Francisco, a notable devel- 
opment of a valuable phase of school music. 



638 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

22. Music should have greater place in the evening schools, espe- 
cially in the social-center work. 

23. Every worthy activity in this and all other divisions of the 
system that arises spontaneously and moves forward without official 
support (as was the case with an orchestra in the evening school dur- 
ing the past jQnr) should be given official support. 

24. The appointment of a director of music whose recommendations 
would be followed would help in large measure to develop the sort 
of music system that San Francisco deserves and might easily have* 

XI. INSTRUCTION IN ART. 

1. The school grounds should be improved, and an expert interior 
decorator employed to improve the interiors of school buildings. 

2. In each school building there should be maintained a constantly 
growing collection of work done by the children. 

3. Schoolrooms should be furnished with pictures appropriate to 
the grade of the room in the elementary schools and to the subject of 
instruction in the high schools. 

4. A school library for purposes of art instruction should be started 
in eveiy school building. 

5. Each school building should have a collection of beautiful 
things. 

G. The valuable reference material now stored in the various mu- 
seums of the city should be made available for use in the schools. 

7. An orderly and well-defined course of instruction in art should 
be formulated for all the schools of the city. 

8. During the first six years in school, such a course should empha- 
size the importance of putting the children in possession of the tools, 
the elements, and the fundamental processes of delineation. 

9. After the sixth year emphasis should be placed upon exercises 
which deal with the elements of beauty, such as subtlety of propor- 
tion, refinement of line, gradation of value, modulation of color, and 
harmonious relations of parts calculated to develop discrimination 
and taste. 

10. The course of study should insist upon a perpetual and vital 
interrelation between all lessons in drawing, design, and color, and 
the enjoyments and activities of daily life, and the common handi- 
crafts. 

11. Advisory committees of business men, artisans, artists, and 
other specially interested persons should be formed to consult with 
the director of art instruction and the supervisors as to the courses 
oilcred. 



SUMMARIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 639 

12. In the evening schools opportunities for practical instruction 
in the drawing related to the various trades should be greatly 
extended. 

13. The organization of the art department should include: (a) A 
director; (b) a corps of at least five broadly trained supervisors; 
(c) in all intermediate, high, and evening schools there should be 
well-trained special teachers of drawing and design; (d) in all 
other buildings containing pupils above the sixth grade the depart- 
mental system should be extended to include art instruction ; (e) 
during the first six school years instruction in drawing should be 
given by the regular grade teachers under the oversight of the super- 
visors; (/) the classes for individual instruction and practice for 
teachers should be continued, and attendance of teachers notably 
inefficient in drawing should be made compulsory. 

14. Provision should be made to enable the board of education to 
comply with the law requiring that "necessary supplies for the use 
of the schools must be furnished " free to pupils. 

15. Adequate provision should be made for discovering, encourag- 
ing, and training specially talented children. 

1G. The possibility of utilizing students in the normal classes at 
the Art Institute as special part-time teachers in the public schools, 
under the supervision of the director of art instruction, should be 
considered. 

XII. HOME ECONOMICS. 

1. All courses in home economics need reorganization. Instruc- 
tion in this subject should begin in the fifth grade and logical se- 
quence of lessons should be arranged for the fifth, sixth, seventh, and 
eighth grades and the first year of the high school. 

2. Sewing should be introduced in all seventh and eighth grade 
classes and special teachers for this subject should be provided in 
these grades. 

3. Sewing should be given in fifth and sixth grade classes by grade 
teachers or by Lux School students. Provision should be made for 
giving grade teachers the preparation needed to enable them to teach 
sewing. 

4. The teaching staff in home economics should be reorganized and 
placed under a director who should have control of all home eco- 
nomics work in the public schools of the city and the assistance of a 
group of not less than four competent supervisors. 

5. The teaching staff in home economics should be increased and 
arrangements made for each teacher to have one afternoon each week 
for neighborhood work. 



640 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

G. Teachers should be encouraged to take summer-school courses, 
and they should be able to do this without loss of salary. 

7. Centers of training in housekeeping should be provided in a 
few carefully selected districts. 

8. The number of night classes in home economics should be in- 
creased, and afternoon classes for women and Saturday afternoon 
classes for working girls should be opened. 

9. Methods of purchasing food supplies should be so changed that 
the director and teachers may make all purchases under general rules 
and regulations. 

10. The director of home economics should purchase all equip- 
ment after bids are made and accepted. 

11. Architects should consult the director of home economics 
before buildings in which home economics is to be taught are 
planned. 

12. Provision should be made for permanent exhibits of home- 
economics work and for a traveling exhibit that can be taken from 
school to school. 

13. The sewing rooms in intermediate schools are not adequately 
equipped. 

14. All food-preparation rooms now in use should be put in clean 
and sanitary condition. 

15. New centers should be equipped for teaching home economics 
and practice houses should be provided in certain localities. 

1G. In the Polytechnic High School a small practice kitchen and 
dining room should be provided by putting in inexpensive parti- 
tions, and classes in household management should be organized. 

17. In the Mission High School sewing should be taken from the 
insanitary places and sewing rooms. Food-preparation rooms and 
housekeeping rooms should be equipped elsewhere in the building. 

18. In the Girls' High School rooms on the first floor not now used 
to advantage would make satisfactory rooms for food preparation 
and housekeeping. 

19. Provision should be made in the Commercial High School for 
work in sewing, food preparation, and housekeeping. 

20. In all schools now teaching food preparation and in all schools 
hereafter supplied with cooking equipment, teachers' luncheons 
should be prepared. 

21. The preparation of certain foods in quantities and the sale 
of the same should be permitted. 

22. Cooking and sewing should be scheduled for the same morning 
in the seventh and eighth grade classes so that work time may be ex- 
changed. 



SUMMARIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 641 

23. Home-economics classes should not contain more than 20 stu- 
dents, and in cosmopolitan and special schools not more than 12 
students. 

24. Courses offered in the several schools should be varied to 
meet the needs of the locality in which given. 

25. Cooperation between the home-economics departments of the 
public schools and the homes of the children, the business men of 
the city, and all organizations interested in the social betterment of 
the city of San Francisco should be encouraged. 

I 

XIII. MANUAL TRAINING. 

1. In grades one to six not less than one-tenth to one-eighth of 
the present school time should be set aside for elementary handwork. 

2. In grades seven and eight (and nine, if the junior high-school 
plan be adopted) the manual arts should receive not less than one- 
fifth to one- fourth of the present school time, five to seven hours 
weekly. 

3. A flexible program should be arranged which will permit special 
groups of pupils to elect even more than these amounts of time. 

4. Elective courses should be offered in all high schools, contain- 
ing varying amounts of manual arts work. 

5. Work in the manual arts should be extended downward 
through all the grades in the elementary schools, and upward in all 
the high schools. 

6. The primary aim of the manual arts in the lower grades should 
continue to be general education. 

7. Beginning with the seventh school year the prevocational aim 
for most children, and the vocational aim for some children, should 
be given definite recognition. 

8. The introduction of greater variety in shop equipment, proc- 
esses, and materials is regarded as essential if the proposed aims 
are to be realized. 

9. Emphasis should be placed on problems in the manual arts 
which require constructive thought on the part of the pupil, which 
stimulate the development of ingenuity and initiative in dealing 
with new situations, which insure the formation of correct habits, 
and which encourage cooperative effort. 

10. Supervision should take the form of training teachers in the 
service, directing their reading and study, providing for conferences, 
demonstration lessons, and other specific helps. 

11. Under one deputy superintendent should be centered responsi- 
bility for all activities in the manual arts, vocational guidance, and 
vocational education. 

93815—17 41 



642 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

12. Under the immediate direction of this deputy superintendent 
should be grouped a staff of trained directors of special subjects, ii 
eluding at least: (a) Fine arts, (&) home economics, (c) manual 
training, (d) vocational education, including vocational guidance. 

13. Higher salaries should be paid for teachers and directors of 
special subjects. 

XIV. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 

(A) vocational guidance. 

1. The work which has been begun in a few centers should be en- 
couraged and extended as rapidly as suitable persons can be found 
or prepared to direct it. 

2. The work in vocational guidance, the manual arts, and voca- 
tional subjects should be developed under a broad progressive policy, 
insuring unity of aim and coordination of effort in these closely re- 
lated fields. 

(B) PREVOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 

1. In recognizing the prevocational aim in grades seven, eight, and 
nine, there should be provided a variety of activities sufficient to in- 
clude some representation of each of the important groups of possible 
vocations from among which it is assumed that a choice is to be 
made. 

2. A complete plan, when finally worked out, should include the 
introductory phases of each of the main subdivisions of vocational 
education: Professional, agricultural, commercial, industrial, and 
home making. 

3. The existing facilities for manual training, fine arts, home eco- 
nomics, etc., should be utilized as the basis for developing prevoca- 
tional courses. 

4. Experiments should be undertaken, especially in the interme- 
diate schools, to determine what types of prevocational classes will 
be most helpful. 

<C) VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 

1. Special vocational courses should be developed in salesmanship, 
business methods, carpentry, and automobile work. 

2. The development of further vocational courses should be based 
on actual experience with these courses. 

3. Each vocational course should aim definitely at the achievement 
of a certain status for the graduate which can be expressed in terms 
of ascertained requirements of commercial or industrial establish- 
ments. 



SUMMARIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 643 

-t. The entrance requirements, and the conditions under which the 
work is to be done, should be made sufficiently flexible to encourage 
the attendance of those who need the instruction and can profit by it. 

5. The attempt to prepare students for college through these voca- 
tional courses should be definitely abandoned. 

6. Instructors in vocational courses should have had successful and 
varied experience in the occupations for which it is proposed to pre- 
pare the students, and should have special fitness for the work to be 

undertaken. 

. * 

7. Advisory committees should be organized to assist in the de- 
velopment of the various types of school and courses of study that 
may be determined upon. These committees should include repre- 
sentatives of employers and workers in each important group of 
occupations concerned. 

8. Further study should be made of vocational courses for the 
evening schools, continuation classes, short unit courses, and dull- 
■*eason courses. 

XV. EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 

1. A director of evening schools should be appointed, who should 
1 1so be a deputy superintendent of schools. 

2. A new course of study should be drawn up, which should pay 
proper heed to racial differences, individual needs, and educational 
principles. 

3. Textbooks should be selected which are adapted to the needs 
of the adult students. 

-L Free textbooks should be furnished. 

5. An adequate system of grading foreign students should be in- 
troduced. 

6. Classes in citizenship, in preparation for the naturalization ex- 
amination, should be organized under public-school auspices. 

7. An adequate system of record cards should be devised, installed. 
+nd kept up to date. 

8. Special certificates should be required for teaching evening 
.•lasses for foreigners. 

&. Training classes for the preparation of teachers of adults should 
be provided until an adequate supply of teachers is available from 
other sources. 

10. Systematic efforts should be made by the school authorities to 
gather the non-English-speaking population into school. 

11. Provision should be made for educational work for foreign 
women. 

12. The salary schedule for the school system should be revised to 
provide for the employment of teachers, principals, and directors 



644 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

under the following plans of service: (1) Morning and afternoon. 
(2) morning and evening, (3) afternoon and evening. 

13. All provision for the education of the foreigner should be 
under the control of the public educational authorities. 

14. The board of education should take the necessary action to put 
these recommendations into effect and provide funds for the execu- 
tion of the same. 

XVI. SCHOOL-DIRECTED GARDENING. 

• 

1. The appointment of a supervisor of nature study and school 
and home gardening, to act under the direction of the deputy super- 
intendent responsible for vocational education and the manual arts. 

2. The duty of this supervisor should be to plan a series of nature- 
study projects for each school, adapted to the ages of the children 
and the environment of the school. 

3. The supervisor should be responsible also for the development 
of a complete plan of home and school gardening and other home- 
project activities for the city. 

4. Upon the recommendation of the supervisor, from 13 to 15 
grade teachers should be appointed as school and home garden 
teachers. 

5. Special emphasis should be placed on these activities in school? 
which are organized on the departmental plan. 

6. These special teachers should be placed first in those districts 
in which gardening space is most available. 

7. Other teachers interested in gardening should be encouraged to 
prepare for this special work. 

8. A sufficient number of gardening teachers should be trained 
and appointed so that at the end of five years every school having 
a fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth grade will have a teacher of gar- 
dening. 



INDEX. 



Acceleration and retardation. 42-45. 

Accounting, recommendations, 114-115. 

Administration and organization of 
schools, 76-128. ( 

Age-grade distribution of pupils, pub- 
lic elementary and high schools, 
33-41. 

Agriculture, instruction, 605-607. See 
also School gardens. 

Americanization of immigrants. See 
Immigrants. , 

Arithmetic, elementary schools, 211- 
212; tests, 250-270, 632. 

Art education, department, recom- 
mendations, 109, 111; general re- 
view and recommendations, s 426- 
441; summary of recommendations, 
638-639. 

Assembly rooms, 180. 

Athletics. See Health department. 

Attendance, 22-27; department rec- 
ommended, 108, 111-112; irregular 
in evening schools, 556-557. See 
also Average daily attendance. 

Average daily attendance, statistics, 
141, 144. 

Backward children, elementary 
schools, 202. 

Blackboards, use of, 172-174, 222. 

Blind children, in schools and homes, 
64. 

Board of education, election, recom- 
mendations, 124-125 ; organization, 
powers and duties, 76-82; practice 
of different cities regarding pay- 
ment of members, 80-81; recom- 
mendations for organization, 117- 
128 ; summary of recommendations, 
624-627. See also " Schools com- 
mittee." 

Bobbitt, Franklin, organization and 
management of public schools, 83- 
88. 



Buildings, basements, 180-181; con- 
struction and repair, 112-113 ; high 
schools, 279-280; number used, 141; 
portable, 185-186. 

Buildings and grounds, general re- 
view and recommendations, 163- 
197. 

Camp Perkins, report on, 601-602. 

Certification of teachers, 94-95. 

Chinese. See Foreign language schools, 
Immigrants, Oriental population, 
and Oriental school. 

Cincinnati, age distribution of public 
school pupils, 41 ; enrollment, by 
grades, 40. 

Citizenship, statistics of foreign born, 
539-540; summary of recommenda- 
tions, 635-636. See also Civics, Im- 
migrants. 

Civics, elementary schools, 215-216, 
302-318 ; high schools, 301, 31S-333 ; 
general review and recommenda- 
tions, 299-370; summary of recom- 
mendations, 635-636. 

Claxton, P. P., on " six-and-six " plan, 
102-103. 

Cleaning school rooms. See Janitor 
service. 

Coeducation, high schools, 103. 

Columbus school, recommendations,' 
168. ' 

Commercial Evening School, classes 
for foreigners, 550-551. 

Commercial High School, 165. 

Community centers, high schools, 292; 
legislation and activities, 356-363. 
See also Social centers, Settle- 
ments. 

Composition, elementary schools, 214- 
215. 

Cooking. See Home economies. 

645 



646 



INDEX 



Courses of study, differentiation, 543; 
elementary schools, 203-224, 231, 302- 
318, 376-394, 444-445, 456-461, 630; 
evening schools, 446-447; high 
schools. 283-291, 301, 318-333, 394- 
410, 446, 458-459; intermediate 
schools, 481; junior high schools. 
461-462. See also Time allotment, 
and tinder various topics. 

Courtis test, arithmetic, 250-251, 253- 
268. 

Crippled children, in schools and 
homes, 64. 

Curriculum. See Courses of study. 

Deaf children, elementary schools, 
201-202 ; in schools and homes, 64 ; 
oral school, 105. 

Defective children, elementary schools, 
201-202. 

Denman School, recommendations, 171. 

Department school, See Special 
schools. 

Departmental teaching, elementary 
schools, 224-225. 

Directors of special work, recom- 
mended, 108-109. 

Discipline and instruction, elementary 
schools, 219-224, 232-233, 630. 

Domestic science. See Home econo- 
mies. 

Drawing, elementary schools, tendency 
to formalism, 222. See also Art 
education. 

Drinking fountains, 184-185. 

Dry-farming clubs, 573-574. 

Elementary schools, absence of school 
lunch rooms, 453; courses in home 
economics, 456-461 ; elimination, 
promotion, and nonpromotion, by 
grades, 46-51 ; enrollment and f ail- 

• ures, by grades, 54-55; enrollment 
compared with actual attendance, 
57-58 ; general review and recom- 
mendations, 169-233; instruction in 
home economies, 444-445; instruc- 
tion in music, 376-394; pupil activ- 
ities as a means of civic education, 
339-346; statistics of enrollment in 
fen cities, 22-24; summary of rec- 
ommendations, 230-233, 629-631. 

Elimination, by grades, elementary 
schools, 46-51 ; by years, high schools, 
58-59. 



Enrollment, compared with actual at- 
tendance, elementary schools, 57-58. 
elimination, promotion, and non 
promotion, by years, high schools 
58-59; public elementary and \\is)> 
schools of ten cities, 22-24. 

Enrollment and failures, elementary 
schools, by grades, 54-55, by grades 
and subjects, 52-53; by grades ii, 
six cities, 40. 

Evening schools, 103-104; home wou 
omies courses, 446-447; in higl 
schools, 278 ; school extension work 
108, 111, 112; training for citizeD 
ship, 348-351; work of Americanize 
tion, 547-557. 

Examination of teachers, 94-95. 

Examiners, 122, 127. 

Expenditures, public school aepari 
ments, ten cities. 151; statistics 
135-140, 144. 

Failures, by subjects, high schools. 59- 
62. 

Feeble-minded children, elementarj 
schools, 201-202. 

Finances, general review and recom 
mendations, 129-162 ; San Franciscc 
compared with other cities, 144-161 . 
summary of recommendations. 627 

Fire protection, 187-189. 

" Following the fruit," work of chil 
dren, 599-604. See also Occupation* 
of children. 

Food preparation, equipment, and sup 
plies, elementary, intermediate, and 
high schools, 450-453. 

Foreign language schools, work, 561- 
563. 

Foreign societies, activities, 563-564. 

Francis Scott Key School, 164-165. 

Fruit-picking camps, conditions. 599- 
601. 

Geography, elementary schools, 212- 
213, 221-224. 

Grammar, elementary schools. 214-215 
221. 

Hamilton School, classes for foreign 
ers, 551-552. 

Health department, recommendations. 
109-111, 112. 

Health inspection, 192, 197. 

Heating: and ventilation. 174-180. 



INDEX. 



647 



High schools, congestion, 99 - 101 ; 
courses in home economics, 446, 458- 
459; development (1889-90 to 1914- 
15), 274; enrollment, elimination, 
promotion, and nonpromotion, by 
years, 58-59; general review and 
recommendations, 272-298; instruc- 
tion in music, 394-410; number of 
failures, by subjects, 59-62; pupil 
activities as a means of civic edu- 
cation, 346-348 ; social life, 292-294 ; 
statistics of enrollment in 10 cities, 
22-24; summary of recommenda- 
tions, 632-635 ; types of organization 
and curriculum, 103, 272. 

History and civics, elementary schools, 
215-216. 

Home economics and vocational de- 
partment for girls, 109, 112 ; general 
review and recommendations, 442- 
478; statistics of five cities, 448; 
summary of recommendations. 639- 
641. 

Home teachers for home economics, 
447. 

Horace Mann Evening School, classes 
for foreigners, 552-553. 

Horace Mann Intermediate School, 
condition of basement, 181. 

Illiteracy, 17. 

Immigrants, Americanization, 351-356, 
544-547. 

Immigrants, education, general review 
and recommendations, 531-569 ; sum- 
mary of recommendations, 643-644. 

Industrial interests, 498. 

Instruction, elementary schools, 200- 
201, 219-224. 

Intermediate schools, course in manual 
training, 481; function, 98-99; in- 
struction in sewing. 445-446 ; sewing 
rooms, 471-472. 

Introduction, 5-8. 

Irrigation, gardens, 604-605. 

Italian School, activities, 562-563. 

Janitor service, 189-192. 

Japanese. See Immigrants, Ed., For- 
eign language school, Oriental school. 

Junior high schools, courses of study 
in home economics, 461-462. 

Juvenile court, 597-598. 

Kindergartens, more needed. 97-98. 



Labor unions, and Americanization 
movement, 564-565. 

Laboratories, food preparation. 466- 
467. 

Language, composition, and grammar. 
elementary schools, 214-215. 

Libraries, elementary schools, 217- 
219. 

Libraries, public, and civic education. 
363-364; work among foreigners. 
564. 

Lighting of school buildings, 166-172. 

Lincoln Evening School, classes for 
foreigners, 553-554. 

Los Angeles, enrollment, by grades, 
40. 

Lunch rooms, absence in elementary 
schools, 453. 

Manual training, instruction, 104-105. 
109, 112; general review and rec- 
ommendations, 479-492 ; summary 
of recommendations, 641-642. See 
also Vocational education. 

Mental deviates, schools, 105. 

Miller, B. P., and State school of 
opera, 421. 

Milwaukee, age distribution of public 
school pupils, 41; enrollment, by 
grades, 40. 

Minneapolis, age distribution of pub- 
lic school pupils, 41. 

Monroe School, work in Americaniza- 
tion, 544-545. 

Museum, school, establishment, 218. 

Music, instruction, 109, 111, 216; gen- 
eral review and recommendations. 
371-425; summary of recommenda- 
tions, 636-638. 

National Education Association, and 
relation between boards of educa- 
tion and superintendents, 88-90. 

Nature study, 216, 609-612. 

Nonpromotion, by grades, elementary 
schools, 46-51. 

Occupations, statistics, 499-507, 521- 
525. 

Occupations of children, 576, 579-580. 
583, 586-587, 590, 593, 595-596. 618. 

Open-air schools, 105, 186. 

Opera, State school of, 421. 

Organization and administration of 
schools. 76-128. 199-202. 230-231. 



648 



INDEX 



Organization and management, prin- 
ciples governing manufacturing cor- 
porations and school corporations, 
83-90. 

Oriental population, 533. 

Oriental School, work in Americaniza- 
tion, 545-547. 

Parental School, recommendations, 
166. 

Parents' associations, activities, 364- 
366. 

Penmanship, elementary schools, 216; 
tests, 235-240, 631. 

Physical education. See Health, de- 
partment. 

Playgrounds, 165-166. 

Polytechnic High School, 165. 

Population, 10-11; age distribution, 
14-16; racial composition, 12-14. 

Portable school buildings, 185-186. 

Portola Evening School, classes for 
foreigners, 554. 

Practice houses, home economics, 472- 
473. 

Prevocational education, 526-527, 642. 

Primary and kindergarten instruction, 
department, 109, 112. 

Principals, appointment, 94; elemen- 
tary schools, work, 226-227; high 
schools, 282-283. 

Private schools, vocational education, 
493-496. 

Promotion, by grades, elementary 
schools, 46-51. 

Promotion and nonpromotion, by 
years, high schools, 58-59. 

Property, estimated value, 141. 

Pupil activities, means of civic educa- 
tion, 339-348. 

Pupils, achievements suggested by 
tests, summary of recommendations, 
631-632; elementary schools, 200; 
elementary and high schools, age- 
grade distribution, 33-41; tests of 
achievements, general review and 
conclusions, 234-271. 

Reading, and literature, 213-214; ex- 
cessive use of phonograms, 220; 
tests, 245-250, 631; recommenda- 
tions and conclusions, digest of 
summaries, 621-644. 



Resources available for educational 
purposes, 17-20. 

Retardation, 42-45. 

Revenue, school, 24-27, 113-114, 129- 
133, 141, 144. 

Roman Catholic Church, nurseries for 
children of working mothers, 560. 

Salaries, superintendents in ten cities, 
28-29. See also Teachers' salaries. 

San Francisco, historical and socio- 
logical study, 9-21; sociological and 
statistical study, 9-21. 

Sarah B. Cooper School, good light- 
ing, 168. 

School accounts, classification, 133- 
135. 

School attendance. See Attendance. 

School budget, 113-114. 

School buildings and grounds, general 
review and recommendations, 163- 
196 ; summary of recommendations. 
628-629. 

School children, nativity, 536-538. 

School facilities, distribution, 29-33. 

School gardens, and nature study, de- 
partment recommended, 108, 111- 
112; educational and economic 
value, 510-520; summary of recom- 
mendations, 644. 

Schoolhouses. See Buildings and 
grounds. , 

School lunches, 474-475. 

School organization. See Organiza- 
tion and management of schools. 

School property. See Property. 

School system, statistical study, 22- 
75. See also Organization and ad- 
ministration of schools. 

11 Schools committee," activities, 97. 

Science, elementary schools, 216. 

Seattle, enrollment, by grades, 40. 

Settlements, work, 55S-559. See also 
Community centers, Social centers. 

Sewing, instruction in elementary and 
intermediate schools, 445-446. See 
also Home economics. 

Sewing rooms, intermediate schools, 
471-472. 

Sherman Evening School, classes for 
foreigners, 555. 

" Six-and-six " plan, discussion, 102- 
103. 



INDEX. 



649 



Smith-Hughes Act, and San Fran- 
cisco, 109. 

Social centers, public schools, music, 
410-413. See also Civics, Commun- 
ity centers, Settlements. 

Social phases of education, 116-117. 

Social studies. See Civics. 

Special departments, reorganization, 
109-112. 

Special group of children, instruction, 
63-64. 

Special schools, 105. 

Special supervisors, 105-107, 227-228. 

Spelling, elementary schools, 216; 
tests, 240-245, 631. 

Starr King School, 165. 

Stone test, arithmetic, 251-252. 254, 
268-270. 

Story-telling, meager use in primary 
grades, 221-222. 

Superintendent of schools, powers and 
duties, 90-92, 120-121, 125-126; re- 
lation to board of education, 88-90; 
salaries in ten cities, 28-29; sum- 
mary of recommendations, 625. 

Superintendent of schools (county), 
election, 123. 

Superintendents of schools (deputy), 
powers and duties, 92-93, 121, 125. 

Supervision, elementary schools, 225- 
228, 631 ; need of more, 107-109. 

Supervisors of special subjects, powers 
and duties, 93-94. 

Supplementary materials, elementary 
schools, 217-219. 

Supplies, department, recommenda- 
tions, 115-116. 

Survey commission, personnel, 6-7; 
statistics of visits to schools, 7. 

Taxation, statistics, 141. 



Teachers, appointment and promotion. 
94, 96-97, 122-123; elementary 
schools, 200, 228-230, 233; elemen- 
tary and high schools, statistics, 64- 
75 ; evening schools, 548-550 ; exami- 
nation and certification, 94-95; high 
schools, 280-282; home economies, 
447, 474; manual training, 482-487; 
number employed, 141, 144; oppor- 
tunity for the study of home econ- 
omies, 453-455; training for garden- 
ing, 607. 

Teachers' salaries, elementary schools. 
200; elementary and high schools. 
73-75 ; home economies, 448-449. 

Test papers, rating, 235. 

Time allotment, elementary course of 
study, 202-203. 

Toilets, 182-184. 

Unit control, recommendations, 117- 
123. 

Vacuum systems, for cleaning school 
rooms, 190. 

Ventilation and heating, 174-180. 

Vocational education, general review 
and recommendations, 493-530 ; sum- 
mary of recommendations, 642-643. 

Vocational guidance, 526 ; high schools. 
290-291 ; summary of recommenda- 
tions, 642. 

Washington, D. C, enrollment, by 
grades, 40. 

Washington Evening School, classes 
for foreigners, 555-556. 

Windows, arrangement, 170-171. 

Writing, department, recommended. 
108, 111, 112; tendency toward for- 
malism, 220. 

Young Men's Christian Association, 
classes for foreigners, 557-558. 



